No Matter What
by Chazno-01
Summary: A year into the Skeleton King war against the undead, The entire Hyper-force seemed to be winning the battles but losing hope that it will ever end, but a small discovery with extraordinary power was made: Chiro's long-dead parents knew the Alchemist! Now, the team must gather lost pages of two enchanted journals holding visions of the past, and endure every angle...no matter what.
1. Chapter 1

No Matter What (a SRMTHFG fanfiction)

Chapter One

After a year of war against the resurrected Skeleton King and his undead army, Shuggazoom was a safe-haven once again, but for how long, none could say. Everyone else assumed victory, but the Monkey Team knew from their experience that the enemy was only waiting for them to drop their guard. Unless they can destroy the Skeleton King permanently, the war would never be truly over, but at this point, that would take a miracle. Many lives were lost, and during that year several of those corpses ended up on the enemy side before it's discovered that cremation prevents that, which struck a nerve in Sparx. After all, this war would've never started if he never allowed the Fires of Hate to awaken his darker side.

The red monkey wasn't the only one on the team shaken from the war. Antauri, the silver monkey, hadn't meditated in months, and was re-adjusting the fung-shui in his room dozens of times in one day just to make up for it. Otto, the green monkey, was trying to find a new hobby since tinkering has become a chore to him. Gibson, the blue monkey, found it harder to focus on his experiments with each week, and was eventually sent to bed after he was found in fetal position on the floor singing "Pop Goes the Weasel" to himself. Nova, the yellow monkey and the only female on the team, discovered that she had exhausted her temper, and wasn't herself until Otto, with Sparx's paper-bag puppet, tried ventriloquism. Even their leader, the human boy Chiro, was upset. He wanted to get out of his hyper-mode, but had stayed in his hero uniform knowing the war would continue at any given day. He even went to bed wearing it! It wasn't until a visit from his girlfriend, the team's honorary member Jinmay the robot girl, that Chiro relaxed even a little.

Knowing the only city on the planet was the enemies' main target, Jinmay was put in charge of monitoring the secret shelters. It was a fitting role for her, as she discovered that she had a talent for taking care of little kids, and things ever took a turn for the worst, she was able to expand her size and power almost surpass that of the Super Robot, making her the perfect last line of defense. Even though the war wasn't officially over yet, Jinmay's sunny personality was enough to lift the spirits on every member of the team, especially Chiro, but her visit wasn't entirely social this time. During her search for the safest parts of the underground jungles called the Savage Lands, in hopes of taming them enough to create another shelter, Jinmay made a discovery worth reporting: an abandoned treehouse.

"This is all I could bring back from there while you were gone," Jinmay said, pulling out a double-photo picture frame out from behind her back, "before the preditors of the Savage Lands even knew I was there. Not that they have a taste for metal or anything, but they do scare me, you know?"

Chiro was willing to comfort her, but what she brought back really caught his eyes. One photo in the frame was more faded then the other, but the image couldn't be clearer. In that photo, he recognized the Alchemist... the good soul among humanity who was corrupted into becoming the Skeleton King in the first place... along with six familiar baby monkeys. It was the two children cradling those babies in their arms, a boy and a girl, that really caught Chiro's attention, for in seperate ways, they both looked like him! It wasn't until he saw the other photo that he got an explanation for it: that same couple, all grown up, were holding a bouncing baby boy of their own... and that baby WAS him! Calling the rest of the Monkey Team to the main hall of the Super Robot, Chiro showed them the photos and received the same look from them that he gave himself.

"Impossible!" Gibson exclaimed, "How is it that your parents were involved with our lives and you never told us?"

"Maybe because I didn't know that myself!" Chiro answered, "I have been on my own for as long as I could remember. I don't know anything about my parents."

"That does explain a lot," Antauri nodded, smiling in nostalgia when he saw the earliest image of his black-furred, organic self, "yet it is hard to believe that time had hidden such a valuable secret from us, and that much raises so many questions."

"Right," Sparx said, rolling his eyes, "like whether or not they knew anything about the Alchemist becoming the Skeleton King, not like that would help with what's going on today."

Nova gasped at the sight of their previous leader, an orange monkey named Mandarin, pointing at young Sparx for some reason, which explains why her younger self seemed to be yelling at both of them, ready to feed one of them a knuckle sandwich. "I know one thing," she said, "times hadn't changed that much."

"Hey! Go easy on him!" Otto laughed, snatching the picture-frame from her hands, "We were probably in our terrible twos then." Before anything more can be said among the group, Otto noticed something sticking out from the back of the frame... it would look like an ordinary piece of paper to anyone else, but to those connected to the power primate, it was glowing! Curious as ever, Otto just had to pull it out to see what it was, but as soon as he touched it, a burst of light came out of his hands and filled the room! The next thing the six members of the Monkey Team were in a dark, unknown area, and the glowing page floated before them, and out from it formed the full-grown version of whom they began to believe was Chiro's Mother, dressed as though she were a mixture between an angel and a jungle-princess. She even had the same hauntingly beautiful voice both are known for when she spoke.

_"Chiro! Monkey Team Hyper Force! My dearest son and foster children! I'd say how happy I am to see you all again, but what you see before you is nothing more then a memory. Besides, if what's been fortold is true, and you've recieved this much of my help in what's written as the 'Eye of a Storm of Despiration', then this is no time for joyful reunions anyway. No matter how much I wanted our little family to come together. Anyhow, since you found this, I say the time has come for you to know, there is a way to counteract the final threat of the Skeleton King once and for all. You see, when I was young, I chanced upon the Jewel of Hope, a small yet powerful artifact that's believed to counteract evil, though at first I only used it to purify the underground river from an essence called 'oil', and to enchant diary pages like this one. Even if you could find that artifact on your own by chance, you might not be able to use it unless you restore every page written in both my diary and your father's journal, which we enchanted together and scattered, not just back on planet Shuggazoom but other parts of the universe as well, knowing that the more memories those pages reveal, the stronger the Jewel of Hope will become when you find it. You'll need every page to end this war once and for all."_

At this point, another haunting image formed next to that of Chiro's mother. It was Chiro's father, dressed in a tuxedo that seemed to be designed for the industry, though how he wore it, like his smile, was somewhat sloppy and casual. His voice also seemed to fill the room.

_"Everyone, I would let you know that although we were despirate to hide this knowledge from our friend-turned-enemy, we didn't scatter the pages helter-shelter. You'd have to find them in places involved with the past of the Hyper Force: The Verron Temple of Korralidaul, The swamps east of the Dojo on Galaxia, The main office of Campus 13 of Cranius-Epsolon, the control room of Vertigo-a-go-go Intergalactic Amusement Park, The Carrington trade-center of Neonhack, and Dr. Takeuhashi's private study on Tobaratikara. Knowing old bone-head, you might want to check the locally hidden pages first, starting with the ones kept in the back room of the Alchemist lab, which has been sealed against its former owners access. From what you might see in the past there, you might be able to figure the rest own on your own. Such visions from the past might not be much relief from the war you are in now, some of them might be even worse, but if you are to know the truth as to what you're really up against you'll have to endure this little quest no matter what. We hid the covers to our books in the same place you found these pictures, to help you contain the energy we placed in the pages until it can be returned to the Jewel properly. Good luck everyone, and remember, you've done more then enough to make us proud in making it this far."_

With that, the vision of the two adults vanished, and the Hyper Force was back in the Super Robot, next to a very confused Jinmay. "Are you guys alright?" she asked, "You all just sort of blanked out back there."

"We're fine," Chiro said wiping the tears from his eyes, "really, we just were given a hint as to how to get out of this mess once and for all, starting with finding this treehouse you found and seeing it for ourselves. We'll explain on the way."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Upon landing the Super Robot next to the treehouse to recieve the covers of the enchanted journals, the entire Hyper Force was in awe of what they seen, especially the monkeys of the team. Chiro couldn't really blame them, for they had their memories erased as soon as their transformation into cybernetic warriors was complete, and their lives as ordinary monkeys was a blur to all of them... just being here felt nostalgic to every single one. Before long, Otto found the covers they came for under a loose floorboard near the shelf Jinmay found the picture frame, and it was time for the hard part.

Knowing that the gaurdian formless would alert their master of their presence upon seeing the Super Robot, it was agreed best for the Hyper Force to travel through the Savage Lands on foot, confident Jinmay could look after herself this time. Every single monkey had their weapons at the ready, except Gibson, who needed his hands for the portable computer that had the map programed into it, and Chiro, who had no weapons at all... yet.

"It would be certian that we are going the right way," Gibson moaned, "if _somebody_ didn't step on this thing the last time we were here!"

"Hey! Watch it brain-strain!" said Sparx, "I have enough guilt to deal with as it is!"

Chiro rolled his eyes hearing that arguement. If they were this way while he was a monkey himself, it's little wonder that Nova, who was trying to break up those two at this moment, ended up third in command.

"Don't you two ever shut up?!" She said to them, almost happy that she had her nerve back becuase of the boys' antics, "Anyhow, judging by how we narrowly escaped a bunch of Shuggazoomian flytraps just a few minutes ago, we must be close by the Alchemist's lab by now. At least this part of the forest seems firmiliar, hard to tell since the cave ceiling has cracked."

Everyone fell silent, as the memory of how they first met Valina somehow spooked them. That witch had put them and herself through so much trouble to reserrect the Skeleton King, though none know if she did it because she really wanted to or because she was brainwashed to being loyal to him since her childhood. One thing was for sure: she expected great power in return for such a ritual... maybe even wanted to become his queen... and how did that bag of bones "thank" her in the end? By turning her to dust, that's how! Now the Skeleton King was back and badder then ever, and had filled an entire year with his evil before the Hyper Force were granted this illusion of victory... an illusion that won't become real unless they restore these journals and their connection to the "Jewel of Hope" they were told about.

Soon enough, they reached the Alchemist's lab, and while inside, they found a dozen gaurdian formless and half that many undead warriors pounding against the farthest wall in the back, only to be repelled by some kind of energy.

"This got to be it, team," Chiro whispered, "the back room has to be behind that wall. Gibson, put that scanner away and get your drills ready. It's your turn to play decoy. Antauri, you get there and try to find a way to open the door for the rest of us. The rest of us will cover for Gibson, understood?"

Receiving a few nods, Chiro silently signalled everyone into their positions, which they took as Gibson activated his drills and prepared to use one of his spin shockers to get the enemies attention. "I dispise this part." he sighed, but he went on to do his task anyway.

"SPIN SHOCKER!"

In a single blast, Gibson had stunned the undead warriors, knowing they are the lesser threat and are best dealt with last. The gaurdian formless, however, were another story. They had to be lured into the traps made up of the other team members. It was a good thing that these ooze-born creatures aren't that smart.

Meanwhile, Antauri had just phased through the back wall, and found someplace that, even if his memory wasn't tampered with all those years ago, all but a part of him would have forgotten on his own. It seemed to be some kind of nursery, equaled only to a mix between a primate habitat at any zoo and a human child's summer camp. It was vine-covered, wall-to-wall, even the furniture from the chairs to the bookshelf seemed to follow the theme even before time allowed the vines to hold these things in place. The must unusual part of the room was the beds: eight of them. Six of them were different colored baskets, five dangling from the ceiling as though that was the original purpose of the vines (Antauri recognised the black one as his own) and the sixth basket, the orange one, had broke off and fell to the ground, shattering to peices. 'Almost like foreshadowing.' thought Antauri, recalling how Mandarin lead the team only to betray them. Before his thoughts wandered too far, Antauri noticed the two human beds on the floor ,each on a different side of the room. It would've been impressively semetrical, if these beds weren't two different sizes. The larger one obviously belonged to the Alchemist himself, but who did the smaller one belong to: Chiro's mother, or his father? More importantly, why would a child live with the Alchemist in the first place? Knowing he'd get answers soon enough, Antauri found a bundle of glowing pages under the pillow of the smaller bed, but when he touched that stack, nothing happened. That's when it dawned on him: The entire team must be present, otherwise the spell wouldn't work. Looking back to the wall he came in through, Antauri quickly found the door. Not only was it brick-laid from the outside, it was sealed with a protection spell as well. No wonder the Skeleton King's minions were using such brute force. Whoever did this was rightfully paranoid to protect this place! Phasing out of the room, he saw that Gibson was doing well as decoy, luring the gaurdian formless from one member to another, as they took out two each...

"STING RING!"

"ELECTRO-VIBER FORCE!"

"WERLING DISTRUCTO-SAWS!"

"CHIRO SPEAR-O!"

Figuring this had gone on long enough, Antauri decided to offer some help. Noticing the undead warriors were reviving, he finished them off with a ghost-claw attack and then went to take care of the remaining four gaurdian formless.

"MONKEY MIND SCREECH!"

Upon noticing that the area was finally clear, Gibson let out a sigh of relief before he collapsed before the returned silver monkey. "Thank goodness you came back, Antauri," he said, turning off his drills, "and just in time too. This decoy business seems to be more of Otto's forte."

"Not to worry, my friend," Antauri said with a smile, "if I recall correctly, his turn is next."

Antauri wasted no time explaining his discoveries to the rest of the team, which motivated all of them into helping to overpower the bricks. Their combined efforts weren't blocked like those of their opponents, so it was obivious the protection spell only works against evil creatures.

"Hey! Check it out guys!" Otto laughed as he climbed up and crawled into the green basket, "I think we could still fit in these!"

"Would you mind helping me into mine?" Gibson said, still exausted from the days work and noticing how comfortable Otto looked in the basket.

"Don't take too long getting cozy," Chiro said, touching the papers Antauri found and awakening its power to reveal the past, "I don't hink any of us want to miss out on one of my parents' stories."

_It was summertime in Shuggazoom city, during the Golden Age. _**(Authors note: Considering how long Captain Shuggazoom was in hibernation, I would guess it was about 35 years before Chiro was born.)**_ Many children were in the park playing with either their friends or their parents, if not both, except one boy who has neither. While is birth certificate had long labled him __Henry Carrington III__, he prefered his nickname, "Ace Ranger", as it, and a baseball passed down his father's side of the family for ages, was all he had left of his parents since the insident that orphaned him and landed him in Carrington Manor with his uncle, Clayton._

_Many envied the fortune Clayton Carrington made on his eccentric ideas, while several business praised him for it, for if he hadn't found a way to make industrial trade with other planets possible, many stores in the city and several naighboring towns would never be open. The way Ace sees it though, everyone's barking up the wrong tree, for he knows that his Uncle Clayton only opened that form of business to be the only playboy to date real alien women, especially the kind with eyestalks...Ace had only one word for his uncle's taste: gross!_

_Still, what was their for a third-grade boy to do? Seeing that nobody was going with him, Ace decided to go to the part by himself, bringing his great-great-great-great grandfather's ball with him. Who knows? Maybe it'll give him luck and every kid in the park would want to play with him, even though his is disguised in the oldest outfit he could find in the rag bag. He had waited about for half an hour at first before deciding to make the first move, looking around for someone who might need as much company as he does. He even looked towards the local little league team, where the coach was barking at one of the kids: "For the last time, Gyrus Krinkle! We can't let you play on the team!"_

_'Purfect' Ace thought, looking at the disappointed boy before clearing his thoat. "Ahem! Uh, excuse me! Gyrus, was it?"_

_"Huh? Oh! Yeah."_

_"Want to play catch? It might cheer you up."_

_"Who? Me? Really?!"_

_"Yeah! Come on, get you glove ready."_

_The little league coach just took a sip of his coffee and spit-taked upon realizing what was going on. "Uh, kid! I wouldn't do that if I were you!"_

_It was already too late. Ace threw the ball to Gyrus, who caught it in one jump, but instead of throwing it back, he started to run off with it shouting: "I caught your ball! Ruin home!"_

_"Hey!" Ace paniced, "That was a family heirloom! You were supposed to give me a turn to catch it!"_

_"That's why I didn't want him on the team, kid!" the coach groaned, "That loony boy keeps getting the rules of the game mixed up! Better get a move on if you want your ball!"_

_Ace didn't need to be told twice, as he ran toward Gyrus at what might be record time for an eight-year-old, and tackled him, causing the ball to fly right out of Gyrus' hands and into a tunnel half way into the forest. _

_"Oh-no! Now look what you done you weasel! Now I got to go in there to get my ball back!"_

_"What I've done?! Wha-?! You're the one who wanted to play catch, weirdo!"_

_What happened to Gyrus after that was none of Ace's consern, as he started searching the dark tunnel for his ball, only to lose his footing and hit his head. When he came to his senses, Ace had realized he was back in the forest and it was night time, but something was off about it. That's when it hit him: The lights above him weren't really stars, but millions of glowing crystals on the top of a cave ceiling... he had heard stories about underground forests before in biology class, but actually being in one was mind-blowing, and terrifying! He could think of several creatures that live in caves as well as in forest, mostly bats and bears, but the worst part was that he couldn't get out the same way he came in... he could tell in the dim light that the hole he fell through was too high up on the slippery cave wall! He started searching the edge of the forest for a lower exit or some way to get up there, wondering wether or not he was officially lost when the sound of wild animals scared all common sence out of him! To that end, he ran deeper into the underground trees which seemed to get thicker the further he went in until, tripping up and spraining his ankle, Ace fell, cornered at the trunk of a large tree. There was only enough light to get an idea of what chased him. At first it seemed like a brown-furred Shuggazoomian simian, which got Ace debating how hard he hit his head on account that he heard that species of monkey was extinct, but as he closed his eyes in fear for his life anyway-_

_"Is this your ball?"_

_Ace looked again, as the crystals seemed to be getting brighter like night turning to day, and the monkey-like creature's image slowly started to fade to that of a human girl his own age, holding the very ball he came here for in the first place. That much would've convinced him the wild animal chase was all in his head, had it not for the tails sticking out of her robe. Two of them: one clearly being her own on account of the size, and the other belonging to a baby monkey with orange fur that crawled out of the robe to inspect Ace, with a menacing look._

_"Well?" The girl said, "You can speak to answer can you not?"_

_"I-I heard about creatures like you." Ace stammered, "You're a 'changeling' right? A shapeshifter that lives as neither human nor animal, right?"_

_"I ask the questions here." She said, "Such as 'what are you doing in the underground forest of Pandora?' and 'had you not cut down enough trees on the surface for your so-called progress?' just to name a few. Obviously you were never told in your life how few followers of the Power Primate are left in this world, and how fewer we become each passing year. I was blessed with my abillity to change forms, as it seems that its only as a human that the words of my native tribe can be understood by humans."_

_"Look," Ace sighed, "I didn't come here to harm the trees or the animals, I just came to get my ball back. It's all I have left of my parents. I didn't know that this is the fabled garden of Pandora. My teachers all told me this place was poppycock!"_

_The girl laughed. "Clearly they are the ones who have much to learn, not like my own teacher, the Alchemist." tossing the ball back into Ace's hands, she continued her speach, "All the same, it would be wise to never tell anyone about this place if you want to see both your world and mine ever again. Let so much as a peep get out, I won't be so 'motherly' in keeping Mandarin from losing his temper. He's quite fisty for an infant, you should know. Just imagine how much worse he might be when he's grown up."_

_Just looking at the expression of the little monkey was enough for Ace to get the point. Manderin's eyes alone would remind anyone of a rabid dog holding back it's desire to bite; he even seems to growl like one. "Fine! Fine!" Ace said, waving his arms, "Just call off your banana-eating pitbull! I've been injured enough today!"_

_"My children don't eat bananas," said the girl, "it's to cliche." After making that point, she whistled one time while clapping twice, a signal Mandarin already knew all too well and reluctantly obeyed by climbing on the shoulders of his seregant mother._

_"Wait? 'Children?!'" Ace said, as the girl started gathering the right near-by plants to tend to his wounds, "Plural?! More then one?!"_

_"There were-hold still a moment- but that is practically the reason I am doing this here and not at the Alchemist's lab." She gathered a lot of energy into her hand and pressed it into Ace's forehead, to show him what she's talking about._

The Hyper Force watched as, just above the memory of how Chiro's parents met as kids, a different set of memories appeared... simular to what they seen while the Skeleton King trapped them in the Dream Lands where they freed themselves with the memory of how he created them. It was becoming clear that while the six of them were babies in a set of fetus tubes, the seventh monkey they seen in that dream, shouting praise as he was flipping the switch, was the Alchemist's apprentice in her truest form.

_"After I was given the ability to blend in with the human world, the spirits tasked me to watch over what our prophecies had called the 'Embassadors of Wukong', six gaurdian monkeys orphaned at birth but developed under a sorcerors care. It has been said that they will one day straighten the bond between humans and nature without changing in any way except by the work of he gave them strength enough to keep their lives from ending before they begun. Since magic has become a dying art,the Alchemist, who gladly took me as his apprentice, was the only sorceror of which I knew of. A few months ago, I had to preform a ritual my teacher refered to as a 'c-section' upon several widowed mothers to be who couldn't live long enough to birth their children properly otherwise on account of sickness or injury. As foretold, only six underdeveloped babies survived long enough during that time for him to help them properly. While I gathered the children, he invented a device that will not only color code them to prevent the possibility of an identity crisis, but will also pick up their development prosess where it left off in half the time. I soon noticed the latter part almost worked a little too well, and I had to place the essance of the Power Primate into them while they were in that blasted mashine to stablize their youth, and while that worked, it also overloaded the systems. Since I practically messed with the natural order of things trying to save them, the mashine temporarly became a teleporter which has scattered every single one of my children to other parts of the universe, except for Mandrin, as his capsle was the closest in my reach as I attempted to get them out of there. The Alchemist has been angry at me ever since."_

_Ace blinked as he returned to the current moment he was in. "I don't think he's upset because you ruined that experiment,"he said, "by what I seen, he was just as eager to meet them as you were, and that's why he rushed their growth patterns like that. After what happened, he propably thinks that temporary rift in the natural order distroyed them, but you have seen that wasn't true and we can prove it to him. Just meet me at Carrington Manor tonight, addressed at the corner of Star St. and Command Ave. The place is large enough for its own zipcode; you can't miss it if you tried." _

_"I may know my way to the surface, but all the same, your directions would confuse me even if I had actually been outside of the underground forest of Pandora before." she sighed, "I do not even know what a 'zipcode' is! Maybe you can just show me where it is. With a sprain like that, you shouldn't be walking home yourself anyway."_

_"If you say so. Just... don't get mushy about it, we're too young for that. My name is Henry Carrington III, by the way, but those who know me call me Ace. Who are you?"_

_"I have no title, except Heng-Shi Kunshuizan, meaning 'life and history of the world itself'. I have a complicated past to say the least."_

_"You wouldn't mind if I just call you 'Zoey Sulphur' would you?"_

Everyone almost laughed at the image of young Mandarin looking like he was about to throw up when they noticed that they were back in the secret room of the Alchemist's lab just the way it was when they got in there, except the stack of papers had been placed in the two enchanted journal covers. Gibson checked the watch built into his tail and gasped at what he saw.

"Several hours in a flashback while time stood virtually still in the real world," he explained to the others, "this is bizzare even beyond my calculations!"

Everyone agreed silently as they recalled the letter Chiro's parents left them all before they started this task. Such distortion was more toiling then the war alone, but they knew that if they are to forever distroy the Skeleton King and finally allow the soul of the man he once was, the Alchemist, to rest in peace, they have to continue this task as soon as possible. As the rest of the team, despite some reluctance, started to return to the Super Robot, Chiro tagged behind a few moments longer, wondering what parts of that vision from his mother's childhood was true and what parts were just the results an overactive imagination. He knew only this much was clear: monkey team and had been seperated the first days of their lives, and his parents started to form their bond trying to get them back. 'You were probably a pest as the Alchemist's apprentice, mom,' he thought to himself on the way out, 'but even at the age of eight, you were a natural at being a mom.'


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"I can't believe it!" Captain Shuggazoom (alias Clayton Carrington) said, "So, let me get this straight, Chiro: You are my nephew's son, and your mother was the Alchemist's apprentice?! I didn't even know he had an apprentice! The guy used to keep himself and his work isolated for all I knew."

Chiro nodded to assure what they discovered was true, but he didn't say anything more, as the address seems to haunt him: The corner of Star St. and Command Ave. might have been a mansion during the Golden Age, but as far as he recalled, it was something else.

"I don't know what's harder to believe," the old superhero continued, "that my own nephew would actually settle down with anyone, or that they would put Carrington Manor under new management and give most of the family fortune to charity! I was convinced I needed that money to keep my double life hidden!"

It's true: the entire mansion has been replaced with the very orphanage that haunted Chiro's past since he was five years old. All he recalled about that year was that he used to live with his parents in a motel before something bad happened that he was told to run away from. He had been bullied in the halls of Shuggazoom City Central Orphanage since then up until he was thirdteen and was given the right to come and go as a latchkey kid... he moved into the Super Robot instead.

"It doesn't matter," Chiro said, "We should just get in, find what we came for and get out!"

The entire Hyper Force didn't need to be told why their leader was in such a hurry for this part of the quest to get over with, as what they were told so far made it obvious, and followed behind in solemn silence, but Captain Shuggazoom was about to fly off. Antauri grabbed the old man's cape to stop him mid-air. "And where do you think you are going, Captain?" the silver monkey asked.

"I know you all want to be casual about this, but this building used to be my property. I know several ways to get in and out of the place without anybody noticing."

"Better save those as a back up plan, just in case we are not welcomed in."

"Sigh! This wasn't what I expected from having the silver monkey as my sidekick at all. Alright! Suit yourselves."

Chiro almost smiled hearing that conversation, but was filled with dread as he knocked on the door. It was then that the old lady who runs the place now, a creepy hag with eye-stalks named Geniveve McCoy, answered. "Chiro? Where have you been all this time?! What in the universe are you wearing?! You got alot of explaining to do young man!"

"Geniveve?" said Captain Shuggazoom, lifting the mask of his helmet and revealing his surprised look on his face, "Is that you?! Those eye-stalks hadn't aged a day!"

The orphan keeper's foresaid traints revealed themselves in surprise.

"Clayton?! I can't believe you came back now of times!"

"You guys know each other?" said Otto, practically speaking for the entire group.

"Believe it or not," the captain explained, "She was my favorite girlfriend."

"'Favorite'?! Ugh! I knew I wasn't the only one, ever since you left me in the backquet hall on our last date, in which I expected you to propose to be by the way, with that that flimsy excuse: 'I forgot my wallet at the massage parlor'! This city didn't even **have** a massage parlor back then, and even if it did, it would've been **closed** at that hour of night! For many years since Clayton, I assumed that you have met someone else and eloped in another galaxy, yet you come to me, now of all times, that you've been living a double life as that showy super-zero Captain Shuggazoom! I might never be able to trust a man in a cape again!"

After that rant, she slammed the door in the face of the entire group.

"You know," admitted the Captain, "I'll never understand women."

"Yeah, I know how that is," said Sparx, winking at Nova, "but I think your relationship with that one is way overdue, _Clayton_. I mean, you two aren't getting any younger, you know."

Chiro switched out of his Hyper-mode as he knocked on the door again: "Ms. McCoy, please let us in. I have so much to tell you."

The keeper opened the door a crack. "You may come in, Chiro," she said gently, "but your animal friends and that... reject... will have to wait outside."

Chiro came in and closed the door behind him.

"Well, Captain," said Nova, "I would say it serves you right, but I can't believe she won't let us inside either."

"So just to be fair about it," Gibson added, "You tell us were these secret entry points are and stay put as our look out while we use them."

"Eh! Why not?" Captain Shuggazoom sighed, "It's not like I am useful for anything else in this little mess."

Just as the monkeys were using the entry points, however, the old superhero was making plans to get inside himself anyway, but the first thing he had to do was clean himself up. Convenianty, a bathhouse, a tailor's shop, and a pharmacy had been built across the street from the orphanage front door, and he wasted no time visiting all three. His intergalactic credit card was way past experation date, but he had hundreds of dollars worth of pocket money that was still good enough to be spent on making his old body look good outside of uniform. As a former playboy, it was a disgrace for any woman to reject Clayton Carrington, but as a person, it somehow hurt him to know that the woman who rejected him had to be, of all girls, Geniveve!

Meanwhile, the Hyperforce had searched every room in the orphanage and still couldn't find the journal pages, but some of the orphans were generous enough to loan their clothes to the monkeys so they can report to Chiro without Ms. McCoy noticing them. They didn't even need to knock, as the orphan keeper's office was always left open a crack, which made it all to easy to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"So you see," Chiro said, getting to the important part at the end of a very long story, "if I am to end this world, I have to claim all my parents had left me, including the pages of their journals. That's why I came back here, no matter how much I didn't want to. Please Ms. McCoy... I know you have them. You always keep the inheiritance of all unclaimed orphans in a vault until they are eighteen years old, but you have to make me an exception!"

Geniveve McCoy shook her head, "I don't blame you for wanting to stay away from here," she said, "for all these years I had taken my frustration out on all the orphans I had to look after, and when I recognized you as that playboy's last living relative... well, in comparision the way I treated you was the least fair. If those stupid pieces of paper and that dumb necklace attached to them are the only chance I have to make it up to you then fine, but everything else they left for you are the things you'll have to wait until you are older. Deal?"

"Deal!"

Soon enough, Chiro got ahold of the glowing journal pages with one hand while holding his mother's necklace in the other (it was too early to tell if this was really the Jewel of Hope, but it would make a decent gift fo Jinmay). As the rest of the team gathered around, and Chiro tried not to laugh at their disguises, they were pulled into another flashback.

_It was early in the morning after the night they met that Ace and Zoey had made it to Carrington Manor, where they were both welcomed unquestioned._

_"The maids and butler seem to be taking your tail very well." Ace whispered._

_"They don't even see it," Zoey whispered back, "that's the best part about my rare blessing: as long as I am in human form, nobody could see my tail unless I want them to. I only trusted you to see it as proof that you weren't completely delusional when you saw me in my genuine fur. Anyhow, how do you intend to help me find the lost monkey children I scattered?"_

_"My uncle's inter-planetary mail-carrier. He invented it for his business to trade merchandice across the cosmos without wasting rocket fuel, but if you have any means to track down your five missing imps, we could use it to pop by wherever they are and pick them up."_

_"Where is it?"_

_"It is in the warehouse, but to tell the truth I am not allowed to play with it. The plan was to sneak there while it's dark, while Uncle Clayton is busy dating some weird alien girl or another, especially my Esparanto teacher, Ms. Geniveve McCoy... Ew!"_

_"I can only hope it is not to late by then."_

_Hours had passed, and soon enough, it was yet another date night, and since everyone else in the playboy's ever-growing list of phone-numbers was booked that night-_

_"Ace, I am going to take Jenny McCoy to a dinner theature at the caborete promise to be a good boy for the staff here while I am gone?"_

_"I promise." Ace told his uncle... with his fingers crossed behind his back!_

_"Now I don't want to hear of any all nighters," Uncle Clayton scolded, "especially the sneaking out sort. You are too young for that sort of thing, especially on a school night, and if you fall asleep in my date's class again she let be be the first to know about it."_

_"I said 'I promise'!"_

_"Fingers?"_

_Ace uncrossed his fingers quickly and shown his uncle he had both palms flat open._

_"No crosses." said Uncle Clayton, "Alright, Ace, I'll trust yah, but whatever happens you better be in bed by nine, understand?"_

_"Got'cha!"_

_After a quick high five, it was a long waiting game for Ace as he watched the two adults take the limo uptown. Once he's sure they are far away enough, he whistled for Zoey and the young monkey Mandarin to come out of their hiding places and accompanied him as he called for a taxi to take them downtown, where they stopped just outside the gate. Like the last few times that Ace snuck inside before, there was a gaurd at the front gate, sleeping on the job as usual, but the cameras seemed to be updated and the entry way itself was laced with pressure sencers that'll sound an alarm._

_"This is going to be a problem." Ace sighed._

_The perspective of the flashback seemed to shift from Ace's point of view to Zoey's as she started to talk to Mandarin. At first, his voice sounded like any animal sounds humans normally heard before translators were invented, but in a matter of seconds, the conversation became clear in both ends._

_"Mandarin, sweety, would be a dear and open the gate for us? You seem to be the only one light enough to get past those lights on the ground."_

_"Oo-oo-aa-are you bananas?! Just because you helped bring me into the world doesn't mean you are my mother! I could just as easily beat up that gaurd and force him to let us pass!"_

_"Mandarin! Four words: No cooperation, no dinner!"_

_The little orange monkey hated to admit defeat, but he was getting hungry and they hadn't had much to eat since they left the lab. Realizing he had no choice, Mandarin snuck in, found the main fusebox, and killed all power to the security system. The two humans rushed inside._

_"Good boy, Mandarin," she said to her cleaver simian toddler, "somebody is getting an extra peach for dessert tonight!"_

_"We will eat later," said Ace, as he lead his friends to the main warehouse of the industrial complex, "emergancy power could kick in any moment, and we only have a few hours left before those back at the manor start to suspect that I am even gone."_

_"You've been left alone a lot, have you?"_

_Zoey's question was lost to the sight of the interplanetary mail-carrier. It was an impressive sized portal_ (the Hyper Force decided the Super Robot wouldn't fit unless they send it through one vehicle-mode piece at a time)_ which sends pounds of goods and currancy in and out of Shuggazoom city 24/7, and after some quick bribery, the nightshift decided to look the other way while the kids continue their mission. Sensing her connection to them through the Power Primate, Zoey was able to track down the five locations, which Ace had placed on the mashine's multi-screen. Antauri was taking one of his first meditation courses on Korralidaul, Nova's feriousity made her a warrior protegy on Galaxia, Gibson was adopted into the care of one of the brightest professors of Cranius-Epsolon, Sparx became a canidate for mascot of Vertigo-a-go-go Intergalactic Amusement Park, and Otto has been fallowing around the first local mechanic he saw since he got there._

_"Now __this__ is going to be a problem!" Zoey said, "They have become attached to those they met in their own seperate worlds! It won't be so easy to reunite them all without breaking a few hearts."_

_"An acceptible loss," Mandarin muttered, "to those who shall soon serve the Monkey King of Planet Shuggazoom."_

_"Ugh! How many times do I have to tell you, Mandarin?!" scolded Zoey, "You, like your spiritual brothers and sister, are an Ambassador of Sun Wukong, not his reincarnation. Even if you were destined to lead the troop, you have to respect them as much as they would do so in favor of you... unless you like the idea of being trapped under a mountain for 500 years like he was for bad behavieor."_

_"I don't know what you two are screaching on about over there," Ace interrupted, "and I'm not sure I want to know. Anyhow, this is easily solveable. We use this thing to fetch the black one tonight, and if I am right about the caregivers of the red and blue ones, at least one of the two just might tag along while the 'grown-ups' meet with with my Uncle Clayton for dinner tomarrow night-"_

_"It be fitting if they both came." Zoey thought outloud before she could stop herself._

_"What do you mean by-?" said Ace, "Oh! Never mind! Whatever happens, the day after that is bring-your-child-to-work-day, and I will have to beg him to stop at a few places in the universe while he shows me the ups and downs of intergalactic industry including, and hopefully limited to, a visit to Planet Neonhack to recieve the green one and Planet Galaxia for the yellow one. Sound like a plan?"_

_"I still think we should use this to steal away all five of them tonight and get it over with!" Mandarin hissed, "I have no intention on sharing my throne!"_

_"We both agree." Zoey lied, and in a matter of moments, the portal opened._

_"Getting there is one thing," said Ace, tying a rope around Zoey's tail, "but getting back is another. We need an achor to keep the gate way open, or we might be stuck on that end forever, or until we can get some transportation. I'm taking no chances."_

_"Just be careful how tight you tie that thing! If my tail gets cut off while I am in human form, I could be stuck this way forever!"_

_"And if that happens in your true animal form?"_

_"I'd... I would be done for. Now lets go!"_

_Stepping through the portal, the group quickly found themselves in the temple of te Verron Mystics. Mandarin sniffed around, and upon locking onto the right scent, just ran off, with Ace following behind. Zoey would've joined in the chase sooner, had she not needed to tie the then-tight rope on her tail to something else, settling with a nearby crystal stalagmite. All that running covered several halls in the temple and took several hours, but it felt like only a few seconds since the chase began when Ace grabbed Zoey and hid her behind the corner, covering her mouth._

_"Shh! Quiet." he whispered to her, "Someone's coming."_

_Sure enough, two figures had appeared down the next hall. One of which was Master Zan, and the other just so happens to be the Alchemist!_

_"I am so relieved to know that Antauri has doing well here," the Alchemist said, "but you know that he cannot stay with you forever. Knowing how well my apprentice ties to the prophecy of the chosen one, she is bound to recieve him sooner or later."_

_"Of course," Master Zan answered, "it was written: 'she who shall bring the chosen one into the world shall first restore the Ambassadors from other worlds twice'. Their scattering across the universe was no accident. His first arrival here is merely his designated home which he may return to when most needed upon maturity, as will the others to their own. I am just disappointed that she had not let the last of the six leave her arms that moment like the rest of them had."_

_"That was probably her protective motherly instincts kicking in early, Zan. There's no harm done... I mean, it's not like she's capable of spoiling Mandarin. On a side note, remind me again how a portal into the Netherworld would help me to create the ultimate force for good?"_

_"To all things there is an equal and opposite entity. You cannot have much effect on one end without knowing the other. The evil of the Dark Ones grow out of control, I fear, but if built correctly the portal we insist you create will be more of a window then a doorway; a window that will allow you to see the very center of the problem and know for sure how to fix it."_

_"If that's truely what it takes, then consider it done. Don't expected to be feady for another five years, though, universal time."_

_Soon enough the coast was clear, and Ace and Zoey were searching the halls for Mandarin again, but Zoey could barely focus on the task. 'A portal to the Netherworld?' she wondered, 'No way! I know that finding a way to end evil purminantly is his life's work, but my teacher, my father, would not really be that despirate... would he?'_

_Suddenly, her train of thought was interupted with the sound of a firmilliar screach!_

_"MANDARIN!" she and Ace shout together as they dashed down the hall the garden just outside of the temple. It was obvious this area was normally used for meditation, but upon finding and meeting Antauri for the first time, Mandarin had turned the garden into a battle ground! The noise of the two monkey's fighting, one out of spite and the other in self defence, had also got the attention of the Alchemist and Master Zan, neither of which knew how to react as they saw Ace and Zoey trying to break them up._

_"Purhaps this isn't the best time for an I told you so." The Alchemist said to the Verron Mystic before turning his attention to Zoey, "Hen-Sui Kushuizan, my dear apprentice, where have you been these past two months? I was worried sick about you."_

_"I thought you were angry with me for scattering the monkey team," Zoey said, "so I went off to look for them thinking that if I brought them back together you would forgive me."_

_"I already have," said the Alchemist, stroking the hair on his apprentice's hair,"but purhaps it is best for you to finish what you have started. By the way, who is your little friend there?"_

_"That boy? He's just a friend."_

_Ace checked the watch on his wrist. "Yeah! A friend who is going to get in serious trouble if we don't get back to the portal! Its 8:30 P.M. back in Shuggazoom City, and if I am not home in bed by nine, I'll be grounded for at least a month!"_

_Through it all, they had just barely made it back home in time. That was one down, four to go._

The images faded as the Hyper Force found themselves back in the orphanage Chiro grew up in, but before Ms. McCoy could see through the monkeys' disguises, a firmiliar old head with a shorter, better groomed beard stuck through the window.

"Hey there Jenny!" Clayton said, trying to sound as swauve as ever with his now aged voice, "How about we pick up were we left off and call the whole thing bigones, huh?"

Ms. McCoy picked up the shovel from the office's fireplace (using her three tongues, knowing that would add insult to injury) and swung it at Clayton Carrington hard enough to knock him out, which would've done worse if he wasn't superhuman.

"You know," She admitted, "I can't stay mad at him forever, but it's best he doesn't know I forgive him. I think playing hard to get is a fair enough punnishment, don't you think?"

"More then fair!" Chiro said, making his way through the front door while the rest of the monkey team scatters for the secret pathways, where they take off the outfits, yet keep them as suveniours. "Well, see yeah on flipside!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I am posting this now to make up for the previous chapters and every chapter to follow... I do not own the series and most of the characters I used in this fanfiction, though I would like to own them one day to continue the next season and/or make a movie. This is just for practice and in hopes of getting the attention of Ciro H. himself.**

Chapter four

Gibson and Otto were having trouble stablizing the inter-planetary mailcarrier, but at least they were able save time as Antauri returned from Korralidaul and Nova got back from Galaxia before that portal machine overheated and blew up! It was clear that those two worlds were still contaminated since the Monkey Team's last visit, and it was best to get them out of the way quickly, for if they had to actually leave their home planet for recieve the rest of the enchanted papers, they have to make the journey as short as possible in case Skeleton King's army decides to strike in their absence.

"Anyone seen Chiro?" Antauri said, exiting the brain-scrambler-pilot 2 and placing the needed scrolls he found next to the journal covers, "We know well that these pages will remain blank unless the entire team is present."

"Yeah!"added Nova, as she climbed out of the foot-crusher-cruiser 6 with the papers she found, "And where's Sparx?"

"Chiro went to find Jinmay and give his mother's necklace," Gibson answered, running through his calculations as to what went wrong with the device, "be it truly the Jewel of Hope or not, he feels it would be best she hung onto it either way. I'm sure he wouldn't be two long with something so simple."

"Not like Sparks!" laughed Otto, "See, while you guys were gone, the rest of us drew straws as to who is getting dinner tonight, what with the Market District in town being infected with spiders and all. Would you believe that he lost!"

"What?!" Nova screamed, "I thought that we took care of that last month!"

"Seems that one of them escaped and reproduced," said Gibson, putting his portable computer away, "and we all would have gone to finish it off, but this device required two monkeys to stay behind and keep the portals open. I'd say it was fortunate that the dumb monkey had to do the _fool's arrand_ in those lots."

"Hey! Watch it, brain-strain!" A firmiliar voice said, causing the group to turn around, "I know this whole mess was my fault, and I'm not as smart as you or Otto, but nobody points out I'm the 'dumb monkey' except Nova, got it?! Anyhow, the kid came just in time to help me get those bugs under control."

Everyone seemed relieved to see Sparx and Chiro come in with plenty of hoverburgers to go around, they even picked up enough groceries to last them a month in space, maybe longer if the instant-dehydrator in the Super Robot's built-in kitchen still works properly.

"Well, technechly Sparx," Gibson corrected, "spiders, or arachnids, are an entirely different species of envertibrate then the common insect-"

"Oh! There you go again with the data and the gibberish and-ugh! Gibson, sometimes I wish you could hear yourself, then maybe you'd know how annoying this is to everyone else-"

"Enough!" Chiro shouted, braking the two quarreling monkeys up, "Why are you two like this anyway? I mean, obviously you two are as different as night and day but give me a break! All this energy wasted on fighting each other should be saved on fighting the enemy for crying out loud!"

"Chiro is right," Nova said, placing her papers next to the ones Antauri found, triggering another flashback, "and I have a feeling his parents might have something to say about this too."

_Zoey was in her true monkey form, running around the Alchemist's study while Antauri was meditating and Mandarin was having his fun beating up a rock. She has only four more of her monkey children to reclaim and if she's to find two of them in one day, as her human friend Ace had promised to be possible that day, this project she has in mind has to work. In the chest at the west wing of the study, she rummaged through some old scrolls until she found what she was looking for: an ancient ritual for making douplegangers. After claiming that, she went though every book until she found one entitled "__**The Complete History and Process of Cloning**__" on the top shelf. Since Alchemy is the combination of science and magic, she had to be fair to both practices if she is to handle two places at once._

_"This shouldn't be too hard," she said to herself, comparing the two methods, "All I need is a few strands of my own hair and a lot of time and energy. I just hope the Power Primate alone would be enough to cut back on the time part. My children need me, and one me isn't enough to go around."_

_Plucking three strands of hair from her head, Zoey focused as much of her inner Hyper-energy upon them as possible and tossed them into the air and shouted "Transform!" and in a matter of seconds she had three purfect copies of herself standing before her. Just as quickly as they were created, however, they had transformed back into stands of hair, which floated straight to the floor._

_"Monkey Doodle!" She screamed, "Those were supposed to remain stabble for at least a few minutes, maybe an hour or two! That should be more then enough for them to act as an extention of my focus! Where did I go wrong?!"_

_"Wow! You weren't kidding Zoey," said a firmiliar voice, "you really do need your human form for me to understand a word you are saying. It's a good thing that, even as an animal, your personality shines through."_

_Turning around, Zoey smiled at the only human besides the Alchemist she actually trusts, and quickly grabs her apprentice rob, putting it on before transforming into a human girl._

_"Hello, Ace," she told him, "how exactly did you know where to find the Alchemist's lab? The forest of Pandora is like a labyrinth to outsiders."_

_"Oh! It was easy," Ace said with a smile, "I just listened for the all-too-firmiliar sound of a certain little orange loud-mouth and followed that here. What are you working on anyway, Zoey? I was just walking inside when I saw a flash of light and I found you yelling at nothing."_

_"Guess this is one of my cleaner failures, then. I was trying to work on a ritual that will allow me to be in several places at a time, but it fell apart!"_

_"Hey! Don't worry about it. I told you if all goes well, the red monkey and the blue one will both come to us; there's no need to stretch yourself thin."_

_"How?"_

_Ace looked over one shoulder and then the other, as though afraid someone might be evesdropping, before giving his answer:_

_"The Vertigo-a-go-go Intergalactic Themepark is hovering over Shuggazoom City right now! Principle Paulie, he runs the Public School I attend, he had arranged it as a rare treat for it's 100th Annual Fitness Festival! It's supposed to be a surprise for everyone else, so I was the only one told ahead of time because Principle Paulie and I are both crazy over the Themepark's superstar daredevil Adam Smash, who happens to be the caregiver of our little red-head."_

_"And my blue-furred little boy?"_

_"Calm down, I was just getting to that. Ahem! Turns out, my Uncle Clayton wants me to meet his old collage instructor Pr. Nucleus, to discuss the plans I have for after graduating High School just to get it 'out-of-the-way' as soon as possible. To be honest, I wouldn't want that old coot from that hothouse planet of Cranius-Epsolon within a 39 1/2 foot radius to the gates of Carrington Manor. Unfortunately, he ended up the caregiver of our blue monkey and would most likely use the little guy as an enticement, so I'll have to put up with him tonight. If we're lucky, Adam Smash might accept my invitation and, you know, stir things up a bit."_

_"I see where this is going, Ace. I better come with you to this Fitness Festival in case that plan doesn't work."_

_"Not in that old rag." Ace said, taking off his backpack and tossing it into Zoey's arms, "I know that outfit your wearing is a tradition to you magic using types, but in the city during the daylight you'd stick out like a sore thumb, even if your tail is invisible to everyone thing I thought ahead and packed a spare outfit for you. Well, go ahead, try it on."_

_Zoey ducked behind one of the Alchemist's machines to change clothes, and came back out again wearing a pair of sneakers, a t-shirt, and some baggy sweatpants which she had to hold up with her tail (which is why she had a knee-high sock on it to disguise it as a belt). "How do I look?" She asked._

_"Uh, normal?" Ace answered, grabbing her by the hand,"Now let's go! The Festival starts in at least two hours and it'll take us awhile to find Adam Smash in that crowd."_

_"Wait a minute!"_

_Zoey pulled away and checked in the main sleeping chambers. the Alchemist himself had exhausted himself last night trying to make a decent, safe blueprint for the Portal into the Netherworld with no success, causing him to pass out in a feverish state. It was lucky that her experiment didn't wake him up, but if he wakes up on his own to find her missing he'd only make himself worse with worry. She turned toward her monkey children, not even bothering to change back to her animal form knowing that they'd recognize her Power Primate essance and understand her words either way._

_"Antauri, Mandarin, hear me. I am going out of the forest to reclaim two more of your brothers and might not be back until morning. Please do the small kindness of staying with the Alchemist while I am gone, and if he asks just tell him I went out looking for ginseng. He knows well how hard that is to find here; understood?"_

_Antauri was more reluctant to tell such a lie then Madarin was, but they both nodded in agreement before she kissed them each on the top of the head and ran off with Ace._

_Turns out he wasn't kidding around about the crowds. Every kid in the city and at least half of the adults seemed to be at Vertigo-a-go-go! Now the kids were each given special cards that have sticker-spaces on them as part of the Fitness Festival, as a reminder to visit every exercise-related game or ride in the themepark at least once to recieve a sticker for each one. As it was every year, there is a special mystery prize for the first kid to go through them all, and none were covering more ground that day then Ace and Zoey, as they scouted for Adam Smash. Soon enough, they found him his ever-changing obstical course on the opposite end of the park from where they started but, unfortunately, they could only stay in the shadows and listen, as they had caught sight of him at a bad time._

_"Listen boss," Adam said, holding a little red monkey in his arms, "it isn't just about me anymore. I have another mouth to feed, I need that raise."_

_"Nonsence, Smash," said the pudgy old man who runs the place, "it's always all about you, just as it should be. After all, if you really cared so much about that little red fuzz-bucket, you'd find it's far more merciful to sell that thing to the zoo where the likes of it belongs then to ask me for more money."_

_"The likes of __him__, boss." snapped Adam, "This monkey-kid is a guy, and he has a name: Sparx."_

_Adam Smash's boss laughed at the very sound of the name. "Sparky?! Where did you come up with a stupid title like that?!"_

_"No boss, it's just 'Sparx'. I just figured it is appropriate to name him after the birthmark I naticed on the back of his shoulders when I found him in the Kiddie Corral two months ago to the day. See for yourself."_

_"You dopey daredevil! That's 'S-P-R-X-7-7'... in tattooing ink! Those screwballs at the corral must have confused him for one of the long-tailed piglets that have been born overnight that month and branded this banana-eating tree-swinger along with the litter! Bah! I knew there were only seventy-six!"_

_"Wait a minute, sir! Are you telling me that you actually approve of-!"_

_"Now if you'll excuse me, Adam Smash, I got some folks I have the means to fire and you should be greatful it isn't you for all this asking-for-a-raise nonsense. Just keep this in mind: if that little Sparky of yours isn't out of here by morning, I just might be having monkey stew for lunch tomarrow."_

_"What?! Why would you want to-?! I mean, Sparx makes an excellent mascot! He added some pizzaz to every commercial for Vertigo-a-go-go ever since I satrted raising him!"_

_"Oh! We don't need a real animal mascot for this place! A guy in a costume is a more attention-grabbing gimmick, you can work with that! Now remember, either that monkey beats it, or I'm going to eat it!"_

_Hearing that, Zoey paniced, and was about to go primal on the man who made such a threat when Ace noticed and stopped her, "I shall meet you back at Carrington Manor," he whispered, "I know how to handle this sort of thing."_

_While Ace stepped in to talk business with the man who owned the place, Zoey had decided it would be wise to return her sticker-card before leaving the park. Principle Paulie took a good long look at Zoey while recieving her card and smiled._

_"You clearly are not one of the students at my school, yet," he told her, "but I would be honored to see the winner of the Fitness Festival Sticker Race attend. Being the first one through every challange in this park, you've earned two all access passes to the Intergalactic Tournament of Heroes on Planet Garaxia, featuring our own Captain Shuggazoom!"_

_'Garaxia?!' Zoey thought, 'That's were my yellow monkey child is. My spiritual daughter of the Power Primate!'_

_"To attend your school and this tournament would be my honor. Thank you, sir."_

_"Hmm. Such a strange yet well-mannered child. The transporter beam to the event will be ready for you at town hall at noon tomarrow. We shall see you and your guest of choice then. Congradulations, miss... Oh! Pickles! I don't even know your name."_

_"Zoey Hen-Shi Sulphur Kunshuizan."_

_After that, Ace proved himself a boy of his word, as he got a ride from Adam Smash himself and beat Zoey back at Carrington Manor. She herself had just managed to walk there just in time to hear the conversation being made as the boy, the racer, and the little red monkey got out of the shuttle-style hovercraft._

_"So let me get this straight kid," Adam said, "all I have to do is let your girlfriend take Sparx home with her, with the garentee he'd be in good hands, and it'll cost me nothing?"_

_"She's not my girlfriend," answered Ace, "but yes, that pretty much sums it up. I mean, think of it: Sparx might be obnoxious, but I doubt he's the type that actually belongs in a zoo. You should stay for dinner, we'll give you further details then."_

_Dinner that night wasn't quite an uplifting experiance, especially with Pr. Nucleus being one of the first at the table. What's worse, while Sparx was practically on the table helping himself, Adam Smash was taking way too long freshening up in the bathroom since this is his first "formal party", giving the professor way too much time for long winded stories. Oddly enough, most of them were about his rare blue monkey, whom he had named..._

_"Mister Hal Gibson?!" Clayton said, rolling his eyes, "Don't tell me that they 'Mister' part is actually written on his adoption papers!"_

_"Indeed I have!" said Pr. Nucleus, pulling a plaque of some sort out of his lab-coat, "Why, I had even taken the liberty of having the original copy laminated. See for yourself."_

_"No offence, Professor, but even among pets that kind of titling could scar anyone for life. Now, about my nephew's future."_

_"Oh, Clayton! That boy is so young. His future can wait. Actually, the main reason I came to visit is because recieving that message you sent got me curious as to how your lifestyle choices might be effecting his 'now'."_

_"His now?"_

_"Clayton Carrington, I doubt that you have noticed, but most of the behaviors that my Gibson had displayed since he arrived here is a reflection of how I behaved around him since I took him in two months ago."_

_Ace and Zoey noted how young Gibson had done everything a well mannered gentleman would at a banquet such as this, and soon found themselves constantly comparing it to that of the still fully-animalistic Sparx. It was clear that the only thing they had in common was that neither of them were truely happy, even though the taste of the meal somewhat lifted their spirits enough to hold any appitite at all._

_"'Monkey see, monkey do'. Duh! I had heard stories about that sort of thing my whole life. It's preschool stuff! So what's your point?"_

_"My point is that, like monkeys, human children learn best by __example__! I have heard all about how you had been wasting your time and fortune on your silly playboy habits! In fact, there is a rumor blowing around that you have plans to skip out on tomorrow's industrial meeting, and on this planet's sacred Bring-you-child-to-work Day to boot!" _

_Ace spit-taked his milk hearing that. "What?! Uncle Clayton, you promised me an inter-planetary road-trip if I behaved myself during that meeting! I wanted to visit Planet Neonhack, since you said it was the first planet you actually opened your trade company with, and you did say we will watch the best wrestlers in the universe on Planet Garaxia!"_

_"Ugh, I have some ahem! unfinished pest control problems on Garaxia," said Clayton, eyes shifting, "trust me you wouldn't want to visit that planet tomorrow, but maybe the day after, is that okay with you, Ace?"_

_Before anything more can be said, a firmiliar pair of screeches filled the manor, putting Ace and Zoey to the edge of their seats._

_"Please tell me that wasn't Mandarin, Zoey." Ace whispered._

_"It could not be, I told both him and Antauri to stay home."_

_As if on cue, Mandarin came sliding down the banister and jumped onto the chandaler above the banquet hall, only for Antauri to follow close behind, knocking the orange monkey off and into a tub of gravy, splattering it all over the place just as Adam Smash was about to join in._

_"Finally, a change of subject." Clayton chuckled, "I mean, nothing like a little surprise to liven up a party!"_

_"And things are just getting started!" added Adam, "FOOD FIGHT!"_

_In a matter of seconds, the entire room was splattered as everyone threw food at each other, even Gibson got himself pulled into the chaos of the moment. The only two who weren't involved in the whole mess were Antauri, as the smell of lobster and meatloaf convinced him to stay on the chandellier, and Pr. Nucleus, who was shocked at Gibson's suddenly poor behavior._

_"ENOUGH!" That one word from the Professor's mouth was powerful enough to stop the foodfight, but he had a lot more to say. "Mister Hal Gibson, the behavior everyone displayed tonight unnerves me, but I expected better from you then this! In all my years I never seen such regression, such... irrationality! I raised you better then that and this is how you repay me? By shunning the knowledge and higher-class ways of all Cranius-Epsolon?! You aught to be ashamed of yourself Mister Hal Gibson! Ashamed and disciplined to the point ofhumiliation beyond what any mind could comprihend! And another thing-!"_

_Pr. Nucleus didn't have a chance to say anything more to Gibson, as Sparx stepped between them, barring his teeth at the old man while silently signalling his blue-furred brother to stand behind him. The professor was confused at the sight. _

_"Hello? Where did you come from little fella?"_

_"Woah-woah-woah!" said Adam, "Time out! I let Sparx help himself the entire five minutes I was shaving and you thought your monkey was the only one at the table the whole time?! I've heard of absent-minded professors, but this is rediculous!"_

_"I am not absent-minded! We elders of Cranius-Epsolon might be forgetful from time to time like everyone else in the universe, but I am __not__ absent-minded! Now, where was I?"_

_Zoey smirked upon hearing that as Antauri leaped onto her shoulders while she fished Mandarin out of the gravy. This was going to be easier then she originally thought._

_"You and Adam Smash were both going to agree to sending your monkeys to the Alchemist," she bluffed, "rumor has it that he lives in an underground forest in a cave twenty miles west of Shuggazoom City Park, can't be missed, but you didn't hear that from me."_

The Hyper Force were disoriented upon returning to the present, but none more so then Sparx and Gibson. Sparx was shocked to be reminded of how hard his life was at first... having to preform stunts for his next meal and all... and while Gibson always was afraid of appearing irrational, this was the first time he really knew where that fear even begun.

"You know, Sparx," Gibson said clearing his throat, "if you hadn't stood up for me when you did, I wouldn't have an ounce of confidence in me today, but I admit I'm confused. Why did you do that when you hardly knew me then?"

"Like I needed a reason to help out a friend," answered Sparx, "besides, no kid deserves to be yelled at like that."

Before another word could be said among the team, the journal covers began to light up.

"Uh-oh!" Otto said, "I think it's starting up again!"

(To be cotinued in the next chapter)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

(Continued from previous chapter)

Because the Hyperforce grabbed more then one chapter's worth of enchanted journal pages, they ended up needing to endure two flashbacks on the same day.

"Uh-oh!" Otto said, "I think it's starting up again!"

"Brace yourself, Monkey Team," said Chiro, "for we agreed that we'd endure this no matter what the tale tells!"

_The Alchemist was just outside of the cavern to the underground forest of Pandora just as the sun was rising. He had just woke up from a fever dream to notice his apprentice Zoey and their little monkeys, Antauri and Mandarin, were missing, and had actually left his comfort zone to look for them. Upon seeing that the "family" was coming together with two more members, however, he sighed in relief._

_"Have fun with your new friends, Sparx," Adam Smash said, while parking his vehicle, "and don't worry about me. I'll let you know when Vertigo-a-go-go is under new management, maybe by then you just might be big enough to race against me in your own rocket. Would you like that?" _

_Sparx lept upon Adam's lap and beeped the hover-craft's horn a few times, as though to say: "Bet on it!" Adam laughed upon hearing that, ruffling Sparx's fur, "I thought so! I'm going to miss you, Sparx, my bold little red-head."_

_Meanwhile, Pr. Nucleus was getting out of the car with Gibson's leash in one hand and a briefcase in the other. "You must be the Alchemist," he said, handing over the leash to open the suitcase, "your apprentice has told me so much about you, though she was completely withdrawn about your experiments which is most reasonable. However, if what she said about you being the rightful owner of my protegee, Mister Hal Gibson, then there are a few conditions I must insist upon in taking care of him, starting with his schedule. I hope it isn't too underwhelming; I just had it narrowed down to only fifty extra-curricular activities a day."_

_The professor pulled out a huge printout that seemed to unroll half-a-mile long, causing Gibson to palm his face with both hands. He knew all too well that being an over-achiever is a sign of true greatness waiting to happen back upon Cranius-Epsolon, and so was used to that, but dispite those facts, even Gibson has to admit this was embarrassing!_

_"Speaking of my apprentice," the Alchemist said, shaking his head, "where is she?"_

_"I am here, sir,"Zoey shouted from the hover-craft back window, "but I won't stay home for long! I have to meet with my friend at Town Hall around noon and I only need to rest."_

_The Alchemist nodded understandingly before his attention turned towards the monkeys he already knew, and he noticed that Antauri's tail had a bandage on its tip._

_"What happened?" he asked the monkeys (being fluent in their language)._

_"Someone bit my tail last night to lure me out." Antauri answered._

_"Don't look at me!" said Mandarin, "I did not do it!"_

_"No! Of course not," Gibson replied with a smile, "it was a little orange snake, one with a terrible temper but thankfully non-venomous."_

_"Watch it my little monkey brother," Mandarin scolded, "after all, just because you are obviously smart does not mean you should be a smart-alec."_

_"Oh! Come on!" Sparx added upon joining the group, "I think that's kind of funny... for a complete know-it-all!"_

_"Oh! Sure!" said Gibson, sarcastically, "And everyone calls me a smart-alac!"_

_"Look, Big Al," Adam said, giving the Alchemist a toy airplane and a bottle of lemon-flavored sparkling water, "I know how busy you brainy types can get so I'll just give you the basics: make sure Sparx stays hydrated before and after his daily exercises, and keep him away from anything that might be too risky and-oh! He hates bananas! No bananas!"_

_Adam then turned his head to make sure Sparx wasn't paying attention before he added one more thing in a whisper: "Psst! He has issues with bath-time too, but I tell him he has to go through with it so people would see the handsome shade of red in his fur. Just a quick rinse in shallow water every other day, and you might not have too many problems-."_

_"Every __other__ day?!" Pr. Nucleus shouted, "No offence, but I find it essential for all species of primates to practice personal hygiene on a twice-daily minimum-!"_

_"Gentlemen, please," the Alchemist said, pinching the bridge of his nose right between the eyes, "I know you both mean well, but I am sure we shall have it all under control. They shall both be her more then long enough for me to figure everything out, after all."_

_"Hm. I'll buy it!" said Adam, giving a low five to Sparx on the way back to the hover-car, "Break a leg, Sparx, and I don't mean literally like last time!"_

_"I am convinced as well," added Pr. Nucleus, placing a glow-stick, an abacus, and a model of the mobius-strip at Gibson's feet, "behave yourself, Gibson, and don't think that the distance between us is any excuse for doing anything foolish, not for a moment, am I clear? Toodaloo!"_

_Within a few moments, Adam Smash and Pr. Nucleus were gone, and Zoey was barely awake enough to climb up into a nearby apple tree to watch them drive off before falling asleep in the branches. As the Alchemist called the monkeys to come back home with him, Mandarin stayed behind and urged Sparx to do the same._

_"That girl who thinks herself our foster-mother must be up to something to remain in her disturbing hairless disguise for so long," Mandarin whispered, "and I think she has plans to actually abandon us. Seeing that you are least afraid of taking risks, I figured it is best to inlist your help to make sure that never happens."_

_"Right," said Sparx, "whatever floats your boat... mama's boy."_

_Mandarin didn't bother to say a word, as he and Sparx climbed up the tree and snuck themselves into one of Zoey's pockets. They had been in there for hours and it was a warm morning, so they had almost fallen asleep themselves when a firmiliar voice awoken Zoey, which in turn caused them to jolt awake as well._

_"Come on Zoey! These tickets you got us are our one chance to get to Garaxia today and we're going to be late as it is!"_

_"It's that boy again." said Mandarin, peaking out, "I knew he's nothing but trouble." _

_"I don't know," Sparx replied, "Looks like my type to me."_

_"Looks can be deceiving, Sparx. Never forget that."_

_Not another word had been shared between them as they tagged along to town hall, and it was a miracle that there were no genetic mix-ups when the teleportation process took them all to Garaxia, but upon arriving there, Zoey ask Ace for a few moments alone._

_"Alright you two trouble-makers," she scolded while checking her pocket, "I know you two are in there. Come on out and catch your ride back to Shuggazoom City before you ruin the surprise I have planned."_

_"Wow! Really?!" Sparx said, excited by the thought, "What is it?!"_

_"A-a-a-ah! That's a secret until the unveiling, Sparx."_

_"Forget about it, Sparky," scolded Mandarin, "odds are she's either fetching another one of our monkey brothern or is intending to abandon us. It's best we just refuse to leave her side until she comes to her senses."_

_"Mandarin!" Zoey shouted in shock, "Is that what you-?! That is just plain rediculous! I would never completely abandon the family, no matter what the distance, and as much as I hate to spoil the surprise, this particular monkey just so happens to be a girl."_

_The boys took the news very well... or at least, as well as any young boy would when told they have a sister._

_"A girl?! Ew!" said Sparx, "Why would we need a girl on our team?! She would probably slow us down by chasing butterflies or putting flowers and other stuff in her hair."_

_"Not to mention the squealing she would do around those she might think are cuter then the likes of us by far," added Mandarin, "and the late-night music and poetry reciting. I even heard that, aside from the one trying to raise us, most females are natural born gossipers which does not work well with a true warrior's ego."_

_"I told you to stay away from the cockatoos, Mandarin," said Zoey, "they are the only real gossips that I know of. Besides, seeing what this girl in particular would be like is the real surprise for all of us."_

_"Zoey! Where are you?! The match is going to start!"_

_"Coming Ace! Sigh! Alright, you two can stay, but only on the condition that neither of you gets caught... we only have two tickets, after all."_

_There were several close calls throughout the event, mostly consisting of potty breaks before Mandarin and Sparx figured out how to due their business under the bleachers and cover the tell-tale scent, and soon enough it was down to the final battle between Captain Shuggazoom and The Scarlet Panther. When it came to that, however, Ace noticed something oddly familiar about the local hero._

_"If I didn't know better, I'd say Captian Shuggazoom's voice sounds just like my Uncle Clayton, cockiness and all. But that just doesn't make sense, unless-"_

_"Oh! Look out Captain!" Zoey shouted in excitement, "Watch for the claws! Go for the tail! You call yourself a warrior?! It's better a moment with a cheap-shot in this arena then a lifetime of failure and shame back on your home planet! Come on! FIGHT DIRTY!"_

_Meanwhile, Sparx and Mandarin were taking a behind-the-battles tour of the arena, as they explored the dojo in the other room while their human friends were distracted. _

_"Mandarin, I know we a going to regret this!"_

_"You might regret it, S-P-R-X-7-7, but the deal was that we could be here as long as we don't get caught, so there is nothing to be upset about. We just need to grab that girl monkey and get out before anyone sees us, and yes, I know it isn't the right thing to do, but the sooner Zoey Hen-Shi is back in the lab behaving like a normal nurse-maid, the better."_

_Sparx was confused at the sight of Mandarin sniffing the air._

_"Why do you keep doing that?! Are you sick or something?!"_

_"Oh! Clearly you had not lived in the jungle long enough to know your own primative nature yet, but then again I'm practically the oldest one in the group so maybe it's too soon for you to get the knack of it yet. You see, each animal, including us monkeys have a distinct scent to let one know where the other is. I am just trying to see if I could pick up on our spiritual sister's built-in purfume to know for sure where to find her in this place!"_

_"Good grief! You are sick! Adam Smash always told me no purfume sampling until I am older, and to top that off, cooties are what seperate girls from woman anyway."_

_Suddenly and without warning, one of the guards spotted the two monkeys , grabbed them by the tail, and tossed them in a small cage. "These two would make a decent prize for whoever wins the Next-Generation Finale!" the man chuckled._

_At that moment, Captain Shuggazoom won the tournament. "But before we close up until next time," the arena announcer proclaimed, "it is time to humor ourselves with a reminder of how far these warriors came since their fighting practices begun! Seeing that Captain Shuggazoom is the winner, lets open the event with the two lucky kids from his home planet that proved themselves in the 100th Annual Fitness Festival obstacle course: Ace Ranger and Lady Kunshuizan! Come on down!"_

_Hearing that caused some hesitation, but both came right down to the arena anyway. _

_"I don't know what's harder to believe," Ace said,"you using that complicated birthname of yours, or that we are expected to actually fight the closing battle just because Captain Shuggazoom won the tournament."_

_"Do not worry," Zoey responded with a wink, "If my instincts are right about this place, this was the sort of thing I was hoping for."_

_"One of you will take on Master Offey's newest, and so-far most gifted student in a five minute endurance match!" said the announcer, as a small crate hung over everyone's head, "Winner gets to decide the fate of the loser as well as these two peeking-toms recently found in the locker rooms!"_

_It didn't take too long for Ace or Zoey to recognize who was in the crate._

_"I will handle this, Zoey!" Ace said, "I intend to free our nosy friends, so lets get this fight over with so we could close these games until next year! Bring it!"_

_"So be it!" shouted the announcer, "Ace Ranger takes the guest corner and on the challenger's side of the Next-Generation Closing Event is the wildest animal of all the apprentice-level warriors in all Garaxia. Introducing: Nova!"_

_The little yellow monkey jumped onto the arena, fists balled up and teeth bared. Ace couldn't help laughing. "Nova, huh? That's a ridiculous name for a little guy! The size of this little fuzz-ball alone is obviously some kind of joke! I could go easy on him and still win!"_

_"Uh, Ace?" Zoey interrupted, tapping his shoulder before whispering: "It is a girl."_

_"GIRL! UH-OH!"_

_The bell sounded and Nova started the attack while all Ace could do is constantly jump and dodge out of the way. "I'd take it back, Zoey!" he said while trying to catch his breath, "You are the one who won the tickets! This should be your fight, not mine!"_

_"I thought you said you could go easy on an opponent that small and still win."_

_"It's my mom's last request, okay! I promised her-Pant! Pant!- that I-Pant! Pant!- wouldn't fight girls!"_

_"Don't worry you could still beat her! The theme of this battle is endurance right? All you have to do is outlast her the whole five minutes and we might tie, and according to intergalactic rules, tied competitions means that both ends lose, which is non-in-void! If this Offay character doesn't set up our failures the way we both hope for demand either a coin-toss or a rematch until the whole thing is settled!"_

_"What?!"_

_"Just try to forget for a few minutes that she's female and prove you're no push over!" _

_The fight was fierce, and both ends passed out three minutes into the fight._

_"Alright!" Captain Shuggazoom yelled, "Now I know for sure that this isn't a faked form of entertainment! Who's in charge around here anyway?! I'd like to issue a complaint!"_

_"No need!" shouted Zoey, "This event is a tie, and according to Intergalactic law, in the event of a tie, both competitors must pay the agreed bets on account of both ends losing! In other words: unless this even score is settled with a coin or some other lot, the entire event will have to start all over to have a winner, and we can't all stay here forever you know!"_

_"On the contrary," said the announcer, "everyone here is looking forward to a rematch! Isn't that right!"_

_"Not so fast!"_

_The entire crowd turned to the source of the voice just as they were about to cheer, falling to a complete hush as Master Offey enters the arena._

_"Our guest has a point," Offey said, "and that boy's raw talent is impressive but still needs much improvement. I do not approve of this arrangement, and intend to punish whoever created those phony tickets to the event! In the meantime, I do not want to see my youngest apprentice to be hurt in any more of this nonsense until she has grown enough in both body and spirit for me to train her properly."_

_Before long, Captain Shuggazoom had returned Ace to Carrington Manor, while preparing to send three little monkeys and a changeling in human form back to the secret forests of Pandora. _

_"So, this Mr. Paulie gave you those tickets as a prize, huh?"said the Captain, " Sounds to me like this Principle has no principles. Best to get your uncle to sick his lawyers on him and maybe even call a few cops, and then remember that if this sort of thing happens again before you are fourteen, best have an adult along just in case."_

_"Can't you do anything about it yourself, Captain?" asked Ace._

_"I may have superpowers, kid, but I am still just one guy. Maybe someday I might make arrangements for a sidekick of some kind, but even then it be fool hardy completely take over the law enforcement department. Everyday heroes have to do there share to. Someday, kid, you'll know what I mean."_

_With that speach, Captian Shuggazoom flew off, with a girl and her simians in his arms._

_"Good try, Uncle Clayton," Ace whispered, "that flashy costume and mask-like helmet might fool everyone else, but your personality shines through. Don't worry, though, because I won't ever tell anyone. Who in their right mind would believe a brat like me anyway?"_

_Meanwhile, Captain Shuggazoom was already at outskirts of the city. "Are you sure your Papa lives somewhere around here, young lady?"_

_"Of course, Captain," Zoey said, "You could put me down now, I think I could walk the rest of the way home safely from here."_

_Captain Shuggazoom let her down gently and she ran off into the bushes, unaware that as he flew the monkeys through the conveniantly close tunnel to Pandora, Zoey was following close behind in stealth until they all reached the Alchemist's lab. It wasn't until Captain Shuggazoom left the area that she removed her city girl outfit and transformed back into her natural primate form, sneaking into the lab._

_"Captain Shuggazoom told me about the trap you and your friend had been baited into,Hen-Shi," said the Alchemist, as though noting her attempts to enter unnoticed failed, "and I had gotten further details from Sparx and Mandarin... although, Sparx was far more I am greatful that you have all got home safe, Nova included, I still find it unsettling that some people in the universe would still endanger children like that for their own entertainment."_

_"Forgive my foolishness, Master," Zoey said, "I was so sure that I was doing the right thing."_

_"You have, my apprentice. You had used your head to find a way out of the situation, but next time it might not be so easy for you. Not to worry though, for once I find a way to create the ultimate force for good, and end the very existance of evil, things will be a lot easier for us all."_

_"Ha-ha! I seriously have no doubts in your efforts, sir, but at this rate you just might redefine the term: life's work. Speaking of 'work', my task of reuniting the team is far from complete, for there is still one more little monkey left to find and I have a sinking feeling retrieving him will prove most difficult." _

Sparx blushed a brighter shade of red then his natural coloration after that glimpse into the past, knowing his first impression with Nova was probably one of the worst displayed in the entire universe, and even a reassuring look from the girl of his dreams didn't fix that. Gibson, however, was at wits end.

"The inter-planetary mail carrier is overheated so we'll have to actually leave in the Super Robot the hard way," Gibson told the rest of the team, "and while I know Jinmay is more then capable of taking care of things in our absence, I fear the places we might visit might trigger some uncomfortable memories even if we don't find the required journal pages."

"We had been warned that the flashbacks would be more unnerving to us then the war," noted Antauri, "but we all know who the final decision rests upon."

Chiro thought a moment, then shook his head, "It's our only chance of making sure this war is over once and for all before it begins again. I'll tell Jinmay she'll be going solo again, in the meantime, prepare to mobilize team!"

"Woo-hoo!" Otto yelled, "Intergalactic Road-trip! I'll pack some snacks!"

Meanwhile, Jinmay noticed that the jewel on the necklace Chiro was beginning to glow. It was hardly a flicker, yet it was noticeable all the same.

"I don't know what is going on," she whispered to herself, "but I can only hope that Chiro knows what he is doing."


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: Again, I don't own everything, but then again, few fan-fic writters do. I'm just doing this for practice, and for fun. Enjoy the show!**

**P.S. There's no flashback in this one I borrowed some ideas from other cartoons and fanfictions. Can you spot them?**

Chapter Six

The Super Robot had covered many miles through space before reaching Cranius-Epsolon, the planet Gibson went to collage upon.

"Are you sure you want to stop here first, Gibson?" Chiro asked, "I mean, you had been a tad out of focus lately."

"Hmm?" said Gibson, "Oh! Don't worry about me, I'll be alright."

Deep down, however, the blue monkey was unnerved by the mere sight of this planet. He knew all to well that Cranius-Epsolon was not only the largest collage domain in the entire universe, it was the redefinition of a hothouse planet! Comepared to the lectures he had given the team ever since he became both their Head of Science and Medical Officer, all the studies he himself went through as both a child and an adult were too much for him there.

"You could stay in the Super Robot while the rest of us go," Otto suggested, "I seen your map of Campus 13 several times; I'm sure we will figure it out."

"Thank you Otto, but no," Gibson said, "we agreed we will go through this journey together no matter what happens, and besides, my classmates are holding a reunion by now anyway."

Everyone in the Hyperforce shared a silent agreement as they landed right near the campus.

'I just hope Nergal is not involved with the event.' Gibson thought to himself.

Sure enough, luck played against the blue furred scientist as a spotlight fell upon the team when they arrived.

"Well-well-well!" said a voice that sounded like a mix between an old squeeky toy and a catburgler getting hit in the face with a shovel, "The teacher's pet decided to show up after all, and he brought his entire family with him! How cute! Almost as cute as the time you filled in for the monkey of a visiting organ grinder on a dare! Remember that viral video you thought you deleted? We've managed to restore it for this occasion!"

Everyone laughed as the image of young Mister Hal Gibson appeared on a large plasma screen just above the sports field, even the members of the Hyperforce had to bite their tongues to hold back the giggles only to find their efforts futile. In the video, Gibson was wearing a vest and a tiny hat, which looked rediculous on his then-recently cybernized body, all while dancing wildly... and singing too! (In that moment, it was revealed that Gibson had a great singing voice but his ability to improvise lyrics made the whole song sound corny.)

As if that wasn't embarrasing enough, the finally of his one-time gig was a doozy: while the organ grider wasn't looking, Gibson stole the organ, rode it down hill all while showing muscles and making funny faces only to end up flinging himself into the Ladies Bathroom! Judging by the flushing sound, he landed in one of the toilets!

"NERGAL!" Gibson shouted, his cheeks nearing the same shade of red as Sparx's fur via embarrasment and rage, "Everyone has already seen this, now that's enough!"

Nergal stepped out of the crowd. He had every Earthling stereotype of a nerd in his physic:

He had three eyes (six counting the glasses), grey skin, braces, dangly chicken legs, and wore a sweater vest with a pocket protector.

"That's 'Dean Nergal' to you, Mister Hal Gibson," Negal jeered, waving the remote in his tenticals, "as the last living relative of Campus 13's previous leader, I was ment to run this place sooner or later. Anyhow, you haven't seen the digital remix of this video, made by yours trully!"

Nergal pushed a button of the remote, and the remix played in DJ style with several screen filters that practically caught everyone's attention and silenced the laughter.

"How... surreal." Antauri commented.

"I don't know," said Sparx, "this is actually starting to freak me out a little."

"I don't blame you." added Nova.

"Alright, Nergal," sighed Gibson, palming his own face, "that's enough! You can stop now!"

The dean shook his head while smiling as only a rival would before shutting off the video and commenting: "It's got 20 million hits, and there are only 5 million lifeforms on this planet!"

"How will I ever live that down?!" asked Gibson.

"That's the best part:" answered Nergal, "you never could!"

"And the worst part is we won't live it down either!" said Chiro, as he and the rest of the team got into the unprincipled principle's face, "Look, if you really are the Dean, I insist a private confence in your office so we could get what we really came for and be on our way."

Dean Nergal grinned wickedly, "Oh! No need to worry about that, boy, I have a hunch as to why you came. Follow me. Everyone else, don't stop the party on my account, I shall return!"

The monkey team had followed Dean Nergal to his office and were in shock when they saw him pull out a portfolio filled with the enchanted journal pages.

"Is this what you came for?"

The entire group was shocked at this, especially Gibson, "Nergal?! How did you-"

"I tried to write paperwork on these pages," Nergal explained, "and the ink refused to appear on them, and when I tossed them into the fireplace, they wouldn't burn! Further analysis revealed a bizzare energy signature on them, somehow simular to the energy you seemed to show whenever the Physical Education Instructor upsets you with a low grade."

"No way, Gibson!" Chiro said in shock, "You triggered your share of the Power Primate after flunking Gym Class?! I mean, we all figured it was your worst topic, but I had no idea it actually caused you to go primal!"

"All the more reason I attempted to avoid it," explained Gibson, "you all know how scared I am of appearing irrational, and the . instructor, Couch Barker, gotten on my nerves! Thinking that cyborgs are nothing but cheaters, he often gave me a lower percentage in his course then my calculations, should I have the energy to make them, shown I deserve, and that itself was quite pathetic. It was only when I lost control of my primative animal nature that I was able to prove fit enough for the lowest passing grade, but how I 'earned' it fills me with guilt to the day, no matter how much extra study time a month in detention gave me."

"If it were up to me," Dean Nergal said, "you would've been expelled! I am willing to let bygones be bygones, for now. Just to make sure that you haven't completely shunned our ways, however, I expect you to write a lecture on the importance of knowledge itself, and to have it presented to the entire campus first thing in the morning before you leave."

Gibson's natural blue coloration seemed a bit pale upon hearing that, and while the monkey team kept quiet about it, they could tell he was trembling. "T-the entire campus? Every single staff member and student I don't even know?! I don't know, I mean, tomorrow morning is such short notice-"

"And if you could manage a standing ovation," Nergal added, "I just might let you have this portfolio and all the papers within. Not that you could handle the task; after all, one person could influance the entire audiance, so odds are, if you are able to do it without boring anybody to sleep, someone will notice a mistake and all will pelt you with water balloons. Much like they did during your piano recital, eh?"

"You played the piano?!" Otto said, momentarily lifting the mood.

"Very well, Nergal," said Gibson, deciding to refocus the subject, "I'll do what it takes to inspire the new generation, and when I do you'll have go give us what we came for."

"Or, I'll have the pleasure of seeing you fail, Gibson," Nergal said, escorting the entire Hyperforce back to the Super Robot, "and when I do, you'll have to stay behind and work as my own personal janitor for the rest of your life. Deal?"

Gibson didn't like this, but if it's the one shot they have to end the Skeleton King War once and for all, he didn't have a choice.

"Deal."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own SRMTHFG!**

Chapter Seven

After making the bet with his old collage rival Dean Nergal, all the stress the war built up inside Gibson was more obvious then ever. He just had to write that lecture on the improtance of knowledge itself, and it had to pe purfected by morning when he reads it off to everyone at Cranius-Epsolon's Campus 13 auditorium. If all goes well and he gets a standing ovation for his work, the hyperforce will be one chapter closer to filling the enchanted journals that hold the secrets to ending the war against the Skeleton King. However, if he fails, and the audiance is either bored to sleep or peeved into mobbing against him, he'll have to stay behind and spend the rest of his life as Dean Nergal's janitor!

"I can't believe you actually went through with that, Brainstrain!" Sparx said, ducking yet another crumpled up peice of paper.

"D'oh!" Gibson moaned, "Quiet, Sparx! I'm trying to get this in writing."

"I don't get it Gibson." said Chiro, brushing his teeth while wearing his pajamas for the first time in a long time, "This sort of thing should be easy for you. Why are you making it so much harder on yourself?"

"Classic case of Analysis Paralysis!" Otto said, laughing, "Or should I say 'Centipede Syndrome'?"

Everyone looked at the green monkey in confusion. What he said was random even for him.

"What are you talking about, Otto?" asked Nova, breaking the silence.

"I think it was a poem somebody told me when I was a really little monkey," said Otto, "it goes something like this: _A spider asked a centipede as he hurried down the street,'How do you move at such a speed with all so many feet?' Said he 'I need not contemplate to keep them all in line, but if I start to concentrate they're tangled all the time!' _"

Gibson shook his head hearing that rhyme and tried to get back to his writting.

"Bah! Utterly perposterous!"

"But it's true!" said Otto, "When we think too much about what we are doing, sooner or later we forget how to do it! That's why I needed a break from my inventions! I find other things to do, keep my head out of building things and before I know it I start building things again. Nothing complicated about it!"

"Otto," Gibson sighed, "I know it isn't obvious right now, but we are in a lull in the middle of a yet unresolved war, and we have to be together in order for the enchanted journal pages to regain their full power, so my lecture must be purfected by morning if I am to come with you, and you're insisting that I take a break?! Ugh!"

"Let it go, monkey team," Antauri sighed, "it's getting late, and we must savor the quiet hours while we can and hold off this discussion tomorrow, when we all have the strength for it."

So with a few "goodnights" shared between them, every member of the hyperforce returned to their rooms except one. Poor Gibson! He was probably up a few hours longer then he usually was on a quiet night, and although their were cumpled peices of paper everywhere in his lab, the essay on his desk was as blank as it was when he started. What's worse, as he began to feel his fears of appearing irrational growing inside him, Gibson momentarily started to hallusionate as he heard the laughter of the Skeleton King echoing in the room.

The blue monkey was beginning to wonder weither it was really a hallusination or not, as their greatest enemy is practically an embodiment of fear. Odds are, the real Skeleton King might be watching and waiting for him of all the monkey's to fail first, as though part of a hidden plan to break up the team one-by-one until Chiro is alone and ungaurded. That must never happen! Alas, what was there to do? Gibson sighed as he looked at the blank page in his writting pad-the very last- knowing that even if he had a decent speak ready at the time he is too nervous to sleep, and the exhaustion will hinder his preformance. It was only in that seemingly hopeless moment that the words from Otto's suggestion rang clear:

_Find other things to do._

'Seems that all my efforts only gotten me into a rut,' Gibson thought to himself, momentarily surprised that he was still able to think at all, 'and if I am to be able to do this correctly I need a change of purspective. To base this part of my research on something I don't nomally do. The question is: what?'

A few minutes later (probably close to midnight on that part of Cranius-Epsolon) Antauri was right in the middle of recharging himself when he awoken to something gone amiss with the Power Primate. It didn't take him long to figure out what it was, as he heard a knock on the door shortly afterwards.

"Come in, Gibson."

The team's scientist came into the silver monkey's room with caution, although his mouth ran a mile a minute as he rambled on about how he had failed to come up with a decent lecture and the open-eyed nightmare he had upon realizing he was stuck. Antauri listened patiently.

"Let me see if I could sum this up:" the silver monkey asked, the very moment all was quiet again, "you want me to guide you in a meditation session, and after all these years of brushing it off as a 'complete waste of time'?"

"Please, Antauri? I know I don't usually ask such a thing, but I am despirate!"

"I don't blame you. You rarely ever needed to take notes on anything, speaches least of all, yet it upsets both of us that this rival of yours expects you to get it in writting on such short notice inspite the fact that he's embarrassed you enough yesterday."

"I know, and if I fail-"

"It won't come to that, Gibson. Whatever happens after your presentation, we shall convince Dean Nergal to remove the wager and keep you on the team. Now, shall we begin?"

Gibson nodded, and sat cross legged on the floor, eager yet nervous. Antauri possisioned himself the same way mid-air, smiling, as he admired Gibson's determination to do this with him, even if it is only for a change of pace. In fact, the last time they did this together was the same as every other member of the team, including Chiro, had done to learn to trust themselves while embracing the Power Primate: the maze simulation. This, however, was far deeper then that. The blue monkey's mind has obviously been cluttered from the war efforts, and most of the doubts, fears, and other forms of mental garbage had to be cleared out, and soon.

"Antauri, this won't... take long, will it?"

"Patience, Gibson. Remember, there are some things that cannot be mastered in an instant. Purhaps a ten-minute session would be appropriate, though it might take at least an hour to get the most of it's benefits, and if by chance you end up falling asleep, I'll be sure to awaken you at dawn; that should give you plenty of time to get your lecture written."

"Very well, I accept."

"Good. Now close your eyes, and focus on your breathing. You can let your thoughts drift where they would and observe them, but as long as you focus on your breath, whatever is going on in your head won't cling onto you unless you want them to."

Gibson remained quiet through Antauri's instructions, but was somewhat surprised with the process and it's results. How could he have forgotten such power in such simplicity?

The scientist knew his techneck was not yet purfect, yet it was close enough to actually lift the weight off his shoulders after the first five minutes, but he didn't know how much time had passed at all. The deeper he went into himself, the clearer his mind became, seeing the universe for all it's worth, instead of merely a collection of star clusters as the years of education convinced him it was.

After an hour, Antauri opened his eyes to check on Gibson's progress. He noticed his blue-furred friend was nearing the fine line between the waking world and the dream world, as the body rocked itself at a steady pace. It was clear he would soon doze off when suddenly-

**BLARP! BLARP! BLARP!**

The alarm within the Super Robot has been triggered, waking up the entire team, including Gibson, who was dazed and confused for a few moments before joining the others in the main room. Upon getting there, they noticed that a bunch of formless not only breached the robot's hyper armor, but in the lab as well. The fight lasted for hours, and they used every move they had before Otto and Sparx noticed one of them escaped and was heading straight for Dean Nergal's office.

"There is no way Nergal could be able to control a bunch of formless," Gibson pondered, "unless-"

"Right!" said Chiro, "He could be in league with the Skeleton King."

"Ha!That pencil neck?!" laughed Nova, "His head would snap off being around our enemy!"

Suddenly the walls of the super robot echoed with patheticly wheezy, yet still undeniably evil laughter as Dean Nergal appeared before the team, first like a puff of black smoke, then as a more sinister version of himself in a Dungeons & Dragons style warlord cloak.

"Only half right!" said Nergal, losing the glasses to reveal his eyes turning completely black with red pupils, "I do indeed control the formless, but I had been using demons made of oil and bone marrow long before the Skeleton King even existed. You see, I too had once hatched a Dark One Egg and fused with it, all while I was only a child, hothoused in this pitiful planet-sized academy."

"TORNADO KABLAST-O!"

Upon hearing Otto's attack coming, Nergal used his dark energy to turn the whirlwind against the monkeys.

"Admittedly, the Phantom of Cranius-Epsolon isn't as big and menacing as the Planet Shuggazoom Worm," Nergal continued, "and even a formless has more 'body' in comparrison, but with the right symbiotic host it is said to be invincible, and as fate selected, I am worthy! By the way, Gibson, my surviving scout said that you weren't doing your homework! Sounds to me like you actually want to become my slave."

"All I want is for you to give me more time!" shouted Gibson, "I told you, twenty-four hours is nowhere near long enough to-"

"Twenty-four hours?! Oh-ho-ho! My old rival, you misunderstood me. When I say I wanted the entire campus to hear your lecture first thing in the morning, I meant it! My skeletal scouts are rounding up a captive audiance in the auditorium as we speak."

Gibson was distraught.

"You mean you'd force an entire acadamy out of bed at the crack of dawn for a lecture? Even I'm not that much of a didatic!"

"Di-what-ic?" Sparx asked.

"It means 'teacher-like'," said Otto, "and that wasn't the term I'd use. 'Control-freak' makes more sense with this guy."

"Indeed I am." snerked Nergal, clapping his tenticals, and summoning an enchanted box to keep the entire Hyperforce contained except one, "I decided to change the bet, Mister Hal Gibson: If you can defeat me and my minions unaided, and by that I mean no weapons, lab access, or backup from your friends, I would allow you the papers and the freedom of the Hyperforce with a benefit of a doubt. Fail, and I will rob the Skeleton King of the pleasure of distroying you all by doing it myself. I figured its a win-win either way. Oh! Just to make sure there is no cheating-"

Nergal used his dark energy to zap Gibson's drills into complete shutdown and cast a barrier to cut off all access to every laboratory in the area, including the one inside the Super Robot!

"Insure there's no cheating indeed!" the blue monkey scowled, "You are the one who never plays fair!"

"Shall we take this outside, then?"

The fight was a brutal thing just to watch, and the worst part was that Gibson would've been completely helpless if not for the power primate, though he wasn't sure this of all worlds in the universe was the best place to use it. He was used to using any environment to an advantage, but in this case he had to fight like an animal, and on Cranius-Epsolon all anyone knew about animals was that they were stupid entities that were kept in cages and occasionally disected. Since he had always been fond of science to the point of earning his place on the team, he recalled how much he liked being part of a disection party, but during his school days many bullies, Nergal in the lead, used to threaten Gibson saying he'll be disected sooner or later!

During the fight, Gibson's head filled itself with horrible memories. Every insult that proved he was irrational and unworthy of being a scientist and medic clouded and re-cuttered his mind:

_"I never seen such regression, such... irrationality! I raised you better then this! You should be ashamed of yourself!"_

_"You know what's really impossible to stop? Gibson's mouth!"_

_"Nobody would understand you even if they did speak monkey!"_

_"They would really allow his species into our school?!"_

_"You primates have no power!"_

Even something Mandarin, the previous leader of the Hyperforce, once said had came back to haunt him:

_"Listen you pathetic excuse of a scientist and a warrior! Your possition on the team has no room for error...ever! One tiny mistake can distroy us all, and even if you do handle everything correctly, know that it's only because you have to do it that way, because nobody will ever really approve of you, now get back to work!"_

Through out it all, however, the blue monkey only managed to snap out of it just in time to dodge a blow, as another phrase from not to long ago seemed to guide him on the right track:

_"Just focus on your breath and let the power primate guide you, and whatever thoughts come your way won't cling unless you want them to."_

'Antauri is right,' Gibson told himself, 'all I really should do is keep breathing... focus on staying alive through this mess. If the choices I make don't distroy me I am bound to figure a way out instictually. Now if only I could decide which move to- Oh! Monkey Doodle! I'm doing it again! Focus, Gibson! Focus! You can't get yourself tied in a knot again! Wait! That's it!'

"End of the line, you beast!" Nergal laughed, finding Gibson stuck in a corner, "I told you that you and your species do not belong here! Now your team-mates are done for, and soon, you'll work for me as my slave! Any last words?!"

"Alright! You win!" Gibson said in his most convincing tone (though even from a distance, the rest of the team could tell he was bluffing), "Clearly I am no match for the combined wit and will of you and your Phantom! Admittedly I am rather impressed that you are the dominant half, Nergal, and with such a complex sub-species of Dark One as well, so in my confusion I must ask: how did you even manage?"

"Ha!" Nergal answered, clearly deciding now was the best time to gloat, "Such a method is rather easy inspite what everyone else believes about demons! All that I had to do is... is, um-!"

Gibson smiled at the sight of his rival struggling, as it is clear that the process of it was so automatic at that point that Nergal never even bothered to think about it, and now that he had to think about it, everything about himself was confusing... instant Centipede Syndrome! Unfortunately, there was no time to laugh about it, as he could see that Dean Nergal and the demon inside of him were acting as though two different personalities going against each other. The body had to be restrained, while both halves of the mind were distracted by the question as to how one is more powerful then the other. Using the ropes of a nearby flag-pole, Gibson had done just that, and at that point, Nergal and his Phantom were so against each other that the Dark One essance left the body of it's host, only to be vaporized by the light of the rising sun!

"No!" said Dean Nergal, as he hung upside down on the flagpole, "Don't you disappear on me! I'll figure out how I proved myself worthy of being in charge, honest! Grrr! Thanks for nothing, teacher's pet! You have distroyed my only friend!"

"Friend? Ha! That thing was merely the controller to your puppet strings! You were never really in control, it just allowed you to be consiously aware of learning to live with it all those years. Honesty, Nergal, if you knew more about yourself then you claimed to know in study hall, it would've been obvious."

"That's Dean Nergal to you, Mister Hal Gibson, and even if you were right, you have no authority to disrespect me around here... I still own Campus 13!"

"Not for long." Gibson said, as he found himself able to use his drills again, "Now that you have clearly lost the powers that your Dark One had granted you, everything and everyone you have contained one way or another has been released. In other words, you lost all forms of conrol you had on your students. It wouldn't surprise me if, as we speak, one of them is alerting the deans off all other Cranius-Epsolonian campuses, which will eventually lead to a council discussing the means of your empeachment. Your right to the main office has been numbered."

A few hours later, Gibson returned to the Super Robot portfolio in hand, knowing that his lab, and more importantly the rest of the team, will be there waiting for him, but as soon as he was greeted and congradutated by his friends, he passed out on the floor, exausted.

He was unconsious long enough for a few days to pass by, and when at last he did wake up again, Gibson found he was on one of the examination tables in med-bay, and Sparx and Antauri were both keeping vidual on him.

"Hey, brainstrain!" Sparx said, patting his blue brother's shoulder, "You're finally up. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I suppose," answered Gibson, mentally noting how weak his own voice was, "How long have I been put out."

"About a week." said Antauri, "What worried us was that you refused to awaken even as we each tried to reboot your cerebrum, that is why we had to bring you in here. We were just about to assume we lost you when Otto looked you over and found the problem: whatever essance that Nergal person used to shut down your drills was aimed at your entire system so that it would be easier for him to reprogram you into his survice had you lost that battle. Thankfully, your victory had prevented the worst of it, but since it was already there, it had to strike it's final blow, forcing you into a coma before it ran its cource in a gradual fade."

Gibson pondered the matter. "So, that was it."

"Too bad we had to leave so soon," continued Sparx, "or you would've gotten that standing ovation after all. Just look at all that fan mail that the freshmen of Campus 13 wrote for yah!"

Gibson looked at the desk on the other side of the room, and sure enough there were dozens of get-well cards stacked up upon it, several of which were clearly homemade. Alas, he clearly needed more time to recouperate, as his head was spinning too much to read any of them, so he was extremely greatful when Sparx picked a few up to do it for him.

"This one says, 'To: Hal Gibson, Thank you for getting rid of that tyrant. Get will soon. Signed: Emily Wattage, first year acting student.', and this one says 'Great minds are said to think alike, but you proved the greatest think for themselves. Fast recovery: Icabod McGuffin, second year astronomy prep. member'. Oh! You'll get a kick out of this one: 'I was just visiting the Campus when I saw what you've done for all those next generation geniuses. Wish I had helped you out, but I didn't hop to it fast enough. Garth! Don't take too long getting yourself right again, and make sure to have plenty of fluids in the meantime. Your froggy-friend and fellow Head of Science: Supa Monus of Planet Nimotad'!"

"Supa was there?!" Gibson said, jolting up only to lay back down on account of his dizzyness.

"Appearently so." said Antauri, "In fact, we ourselves had made some get well cards and hid them somewhere in this batch while taking turns navigating the robot. You could look through them all once you could regain your momentum."

"In the meantime," Otto said, bursting in with the portfolio, "I hope you could see straight enough to watch another flashback from the golden age. I can't wait any longer!"

Chiro and Nova followed their green friend in.

"Sorry to burst in like this, Gibson," Nova explained, "but we were all getting antsy to see what you put yourself through so much trouble for, and since the Super Robot managed to put itself into autopilot half way though our next destination, we felt it's best to make the most of it."

"Oh! Not to worry my friends," Gibson said, waving his hands, "it's quite alright. I was just starting to make a decent recovery anyhow. In fact, if I could recouperate another twenty-four hours I just might be well enough to rest in my own room again. A simple story wouldn't do too much harm."

"So we're feeling better already, huh?" Chiro said, placing the enchanted journal covers next to the get-well cards,"Alright, Otto, start it up."

Otto opened the portfolio, unleashing the magic and starting another glimpse into the past.

_Zoey was in her full-monkey form, teaching her "children" how to forage. All but one were up in the treetops gathing whatever food and herbal remedies that might come in handy, while Gibson, the only monkey among them who wasn't allowed to climb anything in his life, did the same on the ground only to end up face-to-face with a Shuggazoomian flytrap. Zoey wasted no time saving him._

_"I told you: either head for the branches or stay with the Alchemist," she said, sounding rather playful inspite of her scolding, "for whichever you pick I am sure you would be safe."_

_"Big Mama has a point!" taunted Sparx, "There is a reason monkeys live in trees!"_

_Nova slapped Sparx in the back of his head with her tail, a jester that quickly lead to game of Tree-top Tag. Antauri smiled at that, but couldn't help looking down at Gibson's plight. "Purhaps one of us should go down there and guide him up."_

_"Let him figure it out himself, Antauri," said Mandarin, "for out here it's all about the survival of the best, and he wouldn't even come close to that if he kept relying on others."_

_"Mandarin, I know you are attempting to sound wise," said Zoey, in a much more serious tone, "but it is like I kept telling you over and over: show some respect!"_

_"What for, 'Nanny'? That blue-furred bubble-head is good for nothing!"_

_"Mandarin!"_

_"Actually, Ma'am," Gibson started, "he just might be right for, you see, I cannot-"_

_It was at that moment that Ace shown up and chose to interrupt._

_"HI ZOEY!"_

_Zoey jumped up at the sound of her name and started to screechat Ace, but of course he cannot understand her outside of human form._

_"What did you say?" he asked, offering her a new dress. Zoey face-palmed before taking the dress, putting it on while stepping behind a tree, and came out from the other side as a human._

_"I said: 'Give me a fair warning next time!'," she said, "How did you find me out here anyway? Mandarin had just mastered the ability to be more softspoken with his insults."_

_"Actually it was Sparx and Nova's playing around that got my attention this time," Ace answered, "you know by now I almost never forget a voice, and there is still one more voice for me to memorize."_

_"You mean you finally found a way to get us to Neonhack?!" said Zoey, as her eyes lit up, "I had to wait a whole week to hear from you about that!"_

_"Sorry, Zoey, I was grounded for leaving the city without permition,though it was worth it to get your little lady back. Ahem! Anyhow, I was going to be confined for a whole month but after explaining the situation to Tobias Burgus, our butler, he convinced my Uncle Clayton to let me off early for good behaviour and has offered us a ride to Planet Neonhack. I'm talking a first class spaceshuttle, just the two of us."_

_"Problem: the Alchemist has been called back to Tobaratikara to put the finishing touches on some big project he and a couple of his old friends were working on and I can't find a babysitter on such short notice... especially not without blowing all our secrets."_

_"You mean 'monkey-sitter', right? No problem, we'll just take them all with us. After all, it almost worked last time."_

_"Last time Sparx and Mandarin ended up in a cage because nobody was watching them!"_

_As the humans were argueing over the matter, Nova climbed down from the tree and stood right next to Gibson._

_"Alright, I give up!" she said, "Is all this fighting their way of saying that they like each other, or hate each other?"_

_"How should I know?!"answers Gibson, "I had not been around them very long myself, and I have other problems on account of Mandarin's 'soft-spoken insults'!"_

_"Come on! That orange dofus' words can't hurt that badly."_

_"Are you kidding?! Before you came into the picture, he spent an entire hover-craft ride saying nothing more to me other then how my screeching sounds like a female to him. Odds are he might've compared you to me after that little mishap. More recently, however, he had been calling me things such as 'smart-alac', and 'bubble-brain', and 'thimble-fingers'. The only upside to this is that he's actually branching out, unlike Sparx." _

_"HEY! I HEARD THAT!" shouted Sparx._

_"Anyhow," Gibson continued, "maybe I wasn't cut out to be part of the species I was born into."_

_"So you're a late bloomer," said Nova, "so what? You'll get the hang of it when you need to the most, I just know it."_

_Gibson wasn't so sure._

_"Well, if you are so sure that they will allow 'pets' on a space craft,"Zoey said, ending a long arguement with air-qoutes, "then purhaps I should make sure every single one of my children takes a bath before we leave."_

_Upon the mentioning of the word "bath", Sparx lead the entire group into one big chase montage before Zoey could wash him in the river. Soon, every single monkey was clean enough to meet Tobias Burgus' approval, and the ride was a joy to all of them. Antauri saw the above-the-cloud scenario and moment of drifting between the stars as images to look back on during his next meditation practice, while Mandarin liked the idea of being above everything. Nova was focused on the in-flight movie, __**Karate Koala,**__ while Gibson observed every single one of his fellow passangers guessing the reasons why nobody notice the oddity of monkeys on board. None, however, had been more excited by the expiriance then Sparx, who kept dashing about one part of the ship to another until he chanced upon the pilot's cockpit and tried to take over before Gibson stopped him. "We aren't the right size to steer and see where we are going at the same time, Sparx!"_

_Such a comment formed their first grudge against each other, but Sparx and Gibson quickly forgot about it upon arriving at Planet Neonhack, which was to the Nexxo 4 Galaxy what Los Vagas was to Planet Earth alone! At least Tobias had been their enough times to know which part of Neonhack to land upon during arrival._

_"Are you sure you got the right address, Toby?" asked Ace._

_"Well, sir, you did say your missing green monkey was following around a mechanic in a purple and grey uniform with a large pink 'W' printed on the back, had you not?" said Tobias, "The only area I know of on this planet with that perticular outfit is sector 2319, where the Wonderlux Comedian Gag Factory is stationed, across the street from the trade center."_

_"Thank you, Master Burgus," said Zoey, "we shall head there immediately. Would you mind keeping an eye on the monkey team while we're gone? If all goes right, it should only take a few minutes."_

_"You could call me Tobias, madam, and I assure you looking after them will be a sheer delight."_

_"Really? Oh, thank you. It's almost lunch time, so all I ask is that you make sure you feed them anything but bananas. Growing youths need more variety in their diets, after all."_

_Ace rolled his eyes and grabbed Zoey by the arm, dragging her to the Wonderlux Gag Factory. He hates it when she acts like an overprotective parent, while he knew well that, no matter what form she takes, she's still just a child herself. There wasn't much time to waste._

_"Excuse me." Ace said to the person at the help desk, as soon as they arrived at Wunderlux._

_"Sorry kids," that said man told them, looking down from his magazine, "but if you want to play with our merchandice, you'll have to purchase them at your local novelty store. It's nothing personal, just business, now off with you."_

_"We are not here for joy-buzzers and whoopie cushions," explained Ace, "My name is Henry Carrington III, heir to Carrington Industries, and my coleage and I noticed that one of the employees in this building is harboring a little green monkey that rightfully belongs to us. Would you mind directing us to him, sir?"_

_For some reason the man started laughing... only to take off the groucho glasses to reveal that "he" is really a woman. _

_"You hear that boys?" she said, in her still disturbingly manly voice, "One of our naighbors came here to get Otto Motivated."_

_"I know it sounds like a joke in itself," Zoey said, "but we are serious. My little green monkey is missing and-"_

_"No, no! Not 'automotivated' as in eager to take action," the woman told them, laughing, "I meant 'Otto Motivated' as in the monkey's name based on the pun. He goes by 'Otto' for short, and I should know; that person he's been following around is Greasy Reese, my cousin. He's in the back fixing the fer-soni-fi-cator, just tell him Ima sent you there and give him the same message you gave me." _

_"So far, so good." Ace whispered to Zoey, who nodded in agreement._

_Meanwhile, Tobias managed to figure out what each monkey wants to eat, but is dispite knowing he got every meal right, it disturbed him to notice that Gibson was refusing to eat._

_"I figured that rye would be more appitizing to you." Tobias said, only for Gibson to shake his head in response, "I know I don't speak monkey, but it there is something you have to get off your chest I could try to listen anyway."_

_"It doesn't matter," Gibson said running off to find Zoey, "and I am not even hungry."_

_Nova shook her head. "I'll get him!" she offered, and before anyone could object to that (Sparx especially) she ran off to do just that._

_"Sigh! Come along, gentlemen," said Tobias, packing the meals, "we shall finish our meal later. Right now it seems half of the family needs us."_

_At that moment, Ace and Zoey had just managed to find Greasy Reese in the back fixing the factory's heating system, all while holding a conversation with the very green monkey they were looking for, who was holding the toolbox._

_"I know it sounds crazy even for you Otto," said Reese, "but I really think the real reason groucho glasses are so popular is because cross-dressing is all-the-rage in several parts of the universe, and that's just for the girls. Men, however, tend to be more creative with their gowns if you know what I mean. After all, who wouldn't admit there's something oddly amusing about a guy dressed as a woman, which in turn is dressed as a rabbit or a charokee, while singing a song? Ha-ha! The funniest part is that I actually did that once-"_

_"Excuse me,"said Ace, clearing his throat, "I'm Ace, this is Zoey, and your cousin Ima sent us to find you."_

_"Ah!" Reese responded, brushing the oil on his hands off upon his pants, "Ima __Goon__!"_

_Otto dropped the toolbox in a fit of laughter. "It's only funny because that isn't her real last name!" said the little green monkey, "The last few times it was 'Ima Idiot', 'Ima Slimeball' and our personal favorite..."_

_Zoey was impressed by the timing as Reese and Otto said together: "'Ima Freeloner'!"_

_"So, I see that you speak monkey,"Zoey stated, "at least we have that much in common, uh, 'Reese' wasn't it?"_

_"I only dabble in the language, little gal," said Reese, "because if you gotta raise an animal like your own son, you gotta know the native tongue if you know what I mean. On top of that, you could just call me 'Greasy', for being a mechanic is a dirty job, even dirtier then most of my jokes. Want to shake my hands anyway?"_

_Not wanting to look squeamish in front of Zoey, Ace reached out to shake Reese's hand only to feel a strange jolt surge through his entire arm. "Aaaah!"_

_"Classic joy-buzzer!" Reese laughed,"It never gets old!"_

_Otto would've laughed along with him, but a funny feeling has come over him... not funny as in "ha-ha!", but rather, funny as in weird! It was as though he could sense that something or, rather, someone had come into the factory and a part of him just knows it, so he decided to head off and investigate himself._

_Sure enough at that moment, Gibson and Nova were inside the factory, and Otto had caught sight of them just as soon as they were sure they have gotten themselves lost and had chanced upon the long unused sorting system._

_"Not exactly a tree, but it's close enough." said Nova, climbing up the sorter, "Come on, Gibson, we'll get a better view from the top."_

_"Stategicly, your plan does sound extenuatingly reasonable," moaned Gibson, "unfortunately, my physical capabilities are incapable of such elevation."_

_"You talk funny." said Otto, getting the attention of his new friends, "Sorry if I scared yah, but it is true. Who are you two anyway, and what are you doing here anyway?"_

_"Would you believe we came here looking for you?" explained Nova, as she climbed down to greet the green monkey, "I'm Nova, and this is Gibson."_

_"I go by Otto. Nice to meet you, but I'm confused. You were looking for me? Why?!"_

_"We'll explain on the way up." said Nova._

_"And by 'we', I hope you mean 'you' Nova," replied Gibson, "for as I had attempted to tell you several times already: I can't climb!"_

_"What?!" Nova said, shocked by the simplified confession, "But all monkeys know how to climb trees, it's instinctual!"_

_"My previous caregiver, Pr. Nucleus, was extremely overprotective," Gibson explained, "and I had spent most of my life thus far either kept on a leash or in a cage. I never learned!"_

_"Well, you won't have that excuse ever again!" Otto said, climbing only a few inches up the sorter, "Here, grab onto my tail. I'll pull you up until you're ready to handle it alone. Does that sound okay?"_

_Gibson nodded, and before even he knew it, all three of them were high up enough to see the entire factory, and noticed where Ace, Zoey, and Greasy Reese stood, continuing their conversation over who gets custody over Otto._

_"So you mean to tell me that human girl is really my mommy?" asked Otto, after the monkeys had a talk of their own._

_"Well, yes and no," Gibson concluded, "you see we've been orphaned when our lives barely began and she was ment to take us in, but we ended up seperated. If you could come home with us, our 'family' would offically be back together, and there is no telling what we will be capable of with you on the team."_

_"Did I mention that you talk funny?" asked Otto._

_"Yes," said Gibson, "you have indeed, and you didn't have to be so rude about pointing out my Epsolonian accent, thank you very much."_

_"Your welcome!"_

_Nova facepalmed herself. "I think this one was dropped on his head when Zoey split us up." she whispered to Gibson, who nodded his head solemnly._

_"Hey!" Otto shouted, and while at first Gibson and Nova were sure he overheard the comment, it turned out that he was only paying attention to a loose pannel on the sorter, "Somebody unplugged this thing on purpose! No wonder Greasy Reese has been having trouble fixing it!"_

_"Wait! Otto, don't-"Gibson and Nova both tried to say but it was already too late, as the conveyer belts beneath their feet began to move all too quickly for their tiny legs to tredmill on. In a matter of seconds, Nova has been catapulted across the Gag Factory (her screams catching Ace's attention) and crash-landed right into Sparx's arms... the accidental first kiss the two of them shared freaked both of them out. Meanwhile, Gibson was dangling of the edge of his conveyer belt._

_"OTTO!"_

_"Oops!" the green monkey said, turning off the mashine and rushing to his blue friend's aid, "Don't worry Gibson! I won't let you fall! Just try to pull yourself up, okay?!"_

_"Up?! I want to get down from here!"_

_"Not like that you don't! We got to make sure you are safe first! Just trust me!"_

_As Otto said those words, he pinned Gibson's hands down, anchoring the blue monkey long enough for him to build up the confidence needed to aid both of them in pulling him up, but once the blue monkey was safe, the green one lost his footing, and fell in a box of toy clams!_

_Gibson and Otto soon regrouped with the rest of the monkey team. The only one among them who wasn't happy to meet Otto was Mandarin, but he got over it quickly as their relationship seemed to mimic that of a streightman-and-fool comedy rutiene (who got what is obvious)._

_"Well, all's well that end's well." Ace said as Otto was saying goodbye to Greasy Reese, "now that the little monkeys are together again, I guess you don't need me anymore."_

_"Not so fast, my friend," exclaimed Zoey, "this isn't the end, it's only the beginning. Destiny has great plans for these monkeys, and I think it's best that both of us see it through no matter what happens. Therefore, I would like you to visit us whenever you like, we all would like that."_

_"Not all of us," said Mandarin, "that boy has outlived his usefulness, you don't need to so much as talk to him anymore, let alone use that human disguise to have such talks."_

_"On the contrary," said Antauri, "I am certain there will come a time when his aid will be needed again, and knowledge of the worlds beyond the underground forest is impressive."_

_"Yeah," said Sparx, "and besides, I kind of like him."_

_"Me too!" said Nova._

_"As do I!" added Gibson._

_"Well, that settles it:" Otto laughed, "Five votes against one. You lose Manny!"_

_Mandarin hated the nickname. "My name is Mandarin!"_

_"Whatever, Manny!"_

_"All that is left to do before we go is figure out what our newest member is hungry for and add another spot to our little picnic," said Tobias, "unless of course he already ate."_

_"Eh!" said Greasy Reese, "Bananas aside, Otto would eat anything, especially if there's meat in the mix!"_

_"I don't eat newspaper!" Otto said, only to be greeted by some akward stares, "Well, okay, maybe a little, but I'm trying to quit!"_

_"Oh! Good Grief!" Gibson sighed, "I've been saved by an illiterate! Well, at least that little misadventure was worth the climbing lessons."_

_"Like I said: you're welcome."_

The laughter in the flashback soon made way for the laughter of the present-day hyperforce, but none laughed harder then Gibson and Otto. It was so hard to believe that they both forgotten the mishaps that took place when they first met, or why Otto's worst nightmare is clams with feet!

"Oh wow!" Chiro said, "That was definately worth the week-long wait."

"Agreeable as that is," Antauri said, picking up the enchanted journals, "our little task far from half complete, and I could sense that our enemy is just starting another attack back home. We don't have much time."

Sparx noticed the clock inside of the Super Robot. There was something off about it... then it hit him. "No kidding, Antauri! Time may seem to hold still every time we enter a flashback, but every once in a while a nano-second or more slips out from under our noses! If I didn't know better, I'd say the kid's parents are toying with us."

"Not as much as you think, Sparx," Nova said, "I just recieved a coded message from Jinmay. Seems that the necklace Chiro gave her might be the Jewel of Hope after all; it has boosted her energy ten-fold and repelled an entire swarm of insect-formless!"

"Right now," said Gibson, as he collapsed back down onto the med-bay table, "I could use an energy boost myself."

"Just try to get some rest, Gibson," said Otto, tucking his ailing friend in,"now that we know you can wake up again, we won't have to worry about you needing to until morning."

Gibson smiled as he began to drift back into slumber. Antauri's meditation course might've enlightened him for the better recently, but the scientist recalled how all of his team-mates have taught him a thing or two that he and his high IQ levels took for granted. Who would've guessed that climbing with Otto was practically the first time that sort of thing happened.

Greatful as he was for all his friends did for him, and thankful to the creator of Creation itself that nobody got hurt while the team's medic was down for the count, Gibson secretly felt a little guilty for what he put everyone through in his arrogance. 'Soon I might find a way to thank them,' he thought with his last bit of consiousness, 'someway other then my feeble attempts to open them up to my scientific perspectice. Purhaps I shall figure out how to do that in one of my dreams, but I hope that whatever I come up with... might be brought to them as... as a... surprise.'

Like that, Gibson was fast asleep, unaware that the rest of the Hyperforce were having simular thoughts about him.

**Boy! That was a long one! Please Read and Review... I could use some inspiration as to what the team could do to thank each other without celebrating victory too soon, even if their next stop is the Vertigo-a-go-go Intergalactic Amusement Park.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own SRMTHFG!... but I do own a bunch of other characters that, if I get the copyrites (which would take a miracle) might be added into Season 5.**

Chapter Eight

"Well, there it is," Sparx said upon arrival, "Vertigo-a-go-go Intergalactic Park. The only spacestation I know of with every ride known to man and monkey alike; it was here that I learned to fly!"

Otto and Chiro just stared with their mouths wide open and almost started to drool, and Nova rolled her eyes. "That explains alot!" She teased, "What was your first lesson: how to handle g-forces by testing roller coasters?!"

"Ha-ha, very funny Nova," Sparx teased back, "I almost forgot to laugh about that one. What do you think, Antauri? Uh, Antauri?!"

"Just missed him, Sparx," said Chiro, pointing to the elevator-tubes, "he just went to Gibson's room to let our sick scientist know we've arrived."

"Too bad the peace we were given was only a smokescreen," sighed Otto, "or I'd play every game this place got and win something nice for him."

"Not a bad idea, Otto," Chiro smiled, "you go ahead and do that; the rest of us will try to find a way into main control room to get the journal pages we need."

Sparx typed in a few keys in the Super Robot's main computer, and got a virtual directory of the Amusement Park. "Monkey Doodle!" he moaned, "They changed the entire layout and didn't even bother to mark were the control room even is! There are at least four different possiblities, so we might need to split up if we're to find what we need with time to spare for a few rides... I'll race yah to the Farris Wheel if you want Nova."

"Farris Wheel?" Nova raised her eyebrow, wondering what Sparx really had in mind as she watched him make a quick trip to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Antauri was laying his tail upon Gibson's sweating brow. Because of a few upgrades to his fully mechanical body, the silver monkey was once again able to have sensations of hot or cold in his tail as he did when he was slightly organic. In fact, because he was now robotic, Antauri soon found that traint to be more accurate then ever, which came in handy when Gibson's virtual virus was replaced by a biological one along the way.

"100 Degrees Fahrenheit," Antauri sighed, "it's a good thing you stopped exerting yourself while you were ahead, Gibson."

"I know," the blue scientist groaned, holding back his urge to cough,"I am sorry that I haven't done enough for the team before this happened, I mean-"

"No need to appologize, you have done more then enough, for now. The good news is that your fever has dropped at least four degrees since yesterday, and if your recovery keeps up at this rate you might be well enough to get out of bed for good by tomarrow."

"Tomarrow, huh?" Sparx interrupted, bringing in a container of space gruel, "Glad to here that; things are actually more boring without all that scientific gibber-gabber then I ever thought they'd be with it. I just hope I don't catch what you got overnight, brain-strain!"

"My condition is merely stress-related, Sparx," said Gibson, smiling inspite his fatigue,"Oh! By-and-by, I had just finished and sorted through all those get-well cards, including yours: 'Dear Brain-strain, sorry you had to pull every other muscle in your body to save us. Hope you don't take too long getting better because I look forward to racing you again, signed SPRX-77'. Hmph! For future referance, the brain isn't a muscle, it's an organ."

"Well, even an idiot knows the heart is both, so you should know what I ment!" Sparx reacted, trying to sound annoyed (though deep down he was really laughing), "Anyhow, this is the last time your having breakfast in bed for awhile, so which will it be: would you rather have me spoon-feed you like a baby, or do you think you're strong enough to do it yourself?"

Gibson growled at his red-furred brother and yanked the spoon out of his hands. Illness or no illness, there is no excuse to be bribed out of his independance. "What do you want?" He asked between bites.

"What? Can't a monkey look after his sick brother once in a while? I just wanted to make sure you were okay before we search for those journal pages, and I have plans to meet with Nova at the Farris Wheel before we leave."

Hearing that, the blue monkey almost choked on his oatmeal. "The Farris Wheel? Honestly, Sparx, you are not planning to kiss her on the top of that thing like they do in several old movies, are you?"

"Well, yeah, but the funny thing is that Nova has no idea things work that way. It's been over a year since she told me she loves me, Gibson. I can't keep it to myself any longer, I have to set the mood somehow!"

Gibson shook his head. He had seen this sort of thing before during his year of collage scholarship, and these kind of relationships rarely last... however, Sparx and Nova had been through alot together, and it doesn't take a genius to know there was no better pair.

"Sparx, you often told me to 'cut to the chase' during my lectures," the scientist sighed, "whatever it is that you intend to tell her, I insist you follow your own advice."

Sparx nodded in understanding, and ran off, leaving the blue and silver monkey both with a confused expression.

A few hours passed and the themepark seemed to have a strangely positive affect on the rest of the hyperforce. It took alot of willpower just to keep themselves from forgetting about the war and that coming to Vertigo-a-go-go was just a stepping-stone to ending it for good, but over all, moments of joy were so few and far between they just couldn't resist!

Otto had lost more control over himself then the rest of the team, however, as he had dashed randomly between every game and ride (except the Farris Wheel, which was busted much to Sparx's disappointment) that the park had to offer, even the kiddie rides! Occasionally the pattern gets interupted whenever he reaches a snack stand. It was only upon noticing a colorful Newton's cradle displayed as one of the first-place options at Whack-a-Troll that he remembered that Gibson had to fall behind, and attempted to win it for him. He wasn't as easily fooled as everyone else who played that game, however.

"Wait a minute! Mine is broken!"

"What are you talking about?" said the carny worker in charge of the game, "Every single Whack-a-Troll stand works just as it is supposed to."

"Then how come mine is going twice as fast as the others?" screached Otto, "Why is it that the one time I actually whacked a troll, I didn't get any points?! Mine is broken, and if you won't fix it, I will!"

"It's no use, Otto." sighed Sparx, taking his friend aside, "I almost forgot about this myself, but over half of the games in this place are usually rigged to make people lose so that they'd spend more credits playing then most of the prizes are worth in a store."

"What?! That's not fair! I was going to win that ball-clicker for Gibson!"

"Don't worry about it," Nova said, "I know how to handle this sort of thing."

Nova paid the fee and was given the mallet, but used her Boom Boom Wake Up attack on it instead, instantly getting 10000 points in a single blow. "H-help yourself to anything on the top shelf." The carny worker said, hiding behind his stand.

Nova helped herself to the Newton's cradle set. "Happy?" she asked.

"Uh-huh," smiled Otto, "and Gibson will be too! Oh! He's going to be so surprised!"

As if by coincidence, the communicators recieved a signal from their bed-ridden companion.

"_Gibson to hyperforce, do you read?_"

"Uh, loud and clear Gibson," Chiro said, "any particular reason you called?"

"_Merely checking in. Antauri and I were both wondering if you had any luck finding the control room yet. Remember, the final outcome of the Skeleton King war depends on it._"

"Not yet," said Chiro, noting how Otto kept pointing to the Newton's cradle and doing the slit-throat jester with his plain mechanical hands, "but get this: details aside, Otto has found a rigged carnival game next to the food court. Any chance that might be a clue."

After a few seconds, Gibson gave his calculations. "_It's a gamble, but if you could pinpoint every electronic device that has been set to an automatic failure there is a 50-50 chance that the control room will be near the sector with the most problems. As for the non-electrical scams, there's no need to report them to me, but all the same such swindlers need to be taught a lesson they wouldn't forget, and I don't mean the kind of lessons I usually give._"

"Understood," Sparx said, "but our best chance is to check them all out after it get's dark. Now that the first device has been... well, disposed of, we're bound to get ourselves thrown out and-"

Sure enough, one of the security gaurds had been standing over Sparx's shoulders.

"- I'll explain later. Over and out."

That night, upon returning to the super robot, Sparx held a meeting to discuss what they were up against. Even Gibson was there to hear out what progress the dumbest monkey on the team had made, inspite of everyone else's insistance to stay in bed a while longer.

"As you already know, Adam Smash, my father-figure, used to be the greatest daredevil that Vertigo-a-go-go had to offer," Sparx explained, "and I gladly let him teach me everything he knew about flying, he even taught me how to make soup in his spare time. What you don't know was that there's a reason his career went down the toilet: don't get me wrong, those rigged games may be harmless scams during business hours, but after closing time, that's when the crazy stuff is bound to happen."

"What kind of crazy stuff?" Otto asked, hiding the package Nova helped him win for Gibson.

"Yes, Sparx, please continue," said the blue monkey, "we are all a quiver with curiousity."

Sparx sighed and then continued his story:

"It was the ninth month of my pilot training, and the moon was full on both Zenatath and Wicoria, the two planets Vertigo-a-go-go was stationed between at the time. He was going to reward my efforts from that day with the most elaborate soup recipe he had, one with seventeen spices needed, but he was missing one of them and attempted to sneak out that night to get it. That would've been easy, but despite being graceful in the sky and stars, Adam was often a total clutz with life on the ground, and had accidentally triggered an alarm, which in turn triggered the rigged games. Turned out, they're actually hooked up to be part of the amusement park's security system, and upon confusing Adam for a threat, they were about to gamble out his life, I almost drowned in a dunk-tank pushing him out of the way to save him, and in his efforts to return the favor, he got himself hit in the face by a rogue, lazer skee ball, purmenantly blinding him in the left eye. Seeing how lousy his performance was the next day, it was easy to imagine, and fear, how much worse it would be for him or any pilot to lose both eyes! All the same, his failure got him fired and someone else had to take his place, and I ended up that someone. It was during those three months after, while trying to finish my piloting lessons by myself, that I eventually discovered the use of my magnets; a part of myself I forgot I even had since I became a robot-monkey... a part of myself that could've protected Adam from blindness, but because I didn't know then, it was... it was too late."

The rest of the team did all they could to reassure Sparx, for merely starting this war was enough guilt for him, and such a painful memory only made it worse. Clearly, when the team first formed, he thought that it could be a means of escape from his mistakes and he became more laid back and cocky as a result before fate proved him wrong. All the same, the mission was clear: to return to Vertigo-a-go-go, distroy all the rigged games, and use the amount of scrap in each sector of the park to pinpoint it's control-room. Once again, all but Gibson and Antauri left the Super Robot, but due to the blue monkey's communication device having longer range capabilities, he was able to monitor the results from a distance. In the meantime, there was something he had to get off his chest before his condition has a chance to get any worse.

"Antauri?"

"Yes Gibson?"

"I... have to confess: when I read all those get-well cards and letters of appreciation, the words upon them opened my eyes and, half the time, filled them with tears! I promiced myself early on as a scientist-in-training that I wouldn't blur my rationality by crying, yet all that praise from those students and the sincerity from my friends touched me. Tell me the truth Antauri: have I ever... taken the team for granted?"

Antauri was suprised by this, more-so then when his friend asked him for a meditation session earlier. Still, the silver monkey managed to keep the same wisdom he had before giving up his black organic form, so purhaps that much is why his blue-furred friend wanted to discuss this with him alone.

"Actually, Gibson, we were all wondering if we had done that to you. We all know how much effort you into everything you do: your research, your lectures, even the many times you helped us recover from sickness or injury. Yet we have often thought that you did all that merely for you fixation with science, rather then how much you truly care about us."

"Yes, it does seem that our communication is severly lacking in a more personal sence. Oh! Speaking of 'communication', we better check on the others' progress."

Soon enough, after what seemed like hours, all the defective carny games, which were indeed part of the security, had been distroyed. "_Antauri and I had finished pinpointing all the empty stations on the virtual directory. By my resulting calculations, the control room should be at the so-called 'west wing' of the park._"

"What?!" Sparx shouted, blushing, "But that's where the Petting Zoo used to be! I should know, I was practically 'born' there! Are you sure that's not your sickness talking, Gibson?"

"_Sparx, in all honesty, these fifty-fifty odds never had me more unsure about anything in all my life, for if I am wrong, we might have to start all over again, but despite being unwell I am certain that this is the best shot we have._"

"Alright, I'll check it out." said Sparx, reluctance in his tone.

"In the meantime," Chiro added, "the rest of us will investigate the other three sectors of this intergalactic theme park. Accurate calculations or not, something has to be up with this place for security to be this tight."

"_Yes, yes, but please report back! Gibson out._"

"Yah know?" Otto said, "I got the feeling he worries too much, even for this."

Otto expected an answer form his team-mates, but they all shook their heads and split up in three different directions. Upon noticing there was an open slushie stand in the remaining path, the green monkey went that direction without question and, noticing that the stand was automatic, ordered the most rediculous thing on the menu.

"I'll take the pickle-and-anchovie smoothie with marshmallow-fudge toping, hold the bananas!"

And just like that, a trap door opened beneath him and he fell in.

Meanwhile, Gibson was recieving messages from the rest of the team.

"_SPRX-77 reporting: seems you miscalculated brainstrain. The entire west wing, Petting Zoo and all has been completely demolished, even the Piglet Nursery has been torn down, and nobody bothered to repair it in years!_"

"Are you sure, Sparx?" Gibson asked. The scientist felt uneasy about this. There were times he had been wrong before, but usually they were a result of him either thinking with his heart instead of his head or being under the influance of some outside source.

"_Chiro here: No sign of the control room in the south corner of the park, but I found several crewmembers of this intergalactic themepark tied up and stuffed in the storage area along with all the rides and games that were around this place when my parents were kids! Everyone here is to scared to explain anything!_"

"_Nova calling in: the east area is non-in-void to, though I did manage to evesdrop on Sparx's mentor and his new employer... he's a bigger jerk then the last one! I'm sending in the recording for later referance. Hey! Anyone seen Otto? I haven't heard from him all night._"

"It wouldn't surprise me if he went to order a smoothie in the north corner," sighed Gibson, "find him and make sure he watches what he eats there; I seen the menus and, knowing Otto, he'd probably order the pickle-and-anchovie smoothie with chocolate-mashmallow toping! Yuck!"

"Just be glad the bananas on that one are optional-" Antauri started, only for something in the Power Primate essance to inturrupt him. It soon became clear that Otto was sending a telepathic message to the rest of the team.

_**Monkey team... I think I found it. I can see everything from down here, but I can't do anything because something's jamming all my mechanical parts! Be careful if you have to find me.**_

"What in the universe does he mean by 'down here'?" Gibson pondered.

"I don't know," said Antauri, secretly impressed with what Otto has done yet obviously conserned for their green friend's safety, "but if there is something down there that jams mechanical parts, I would be the most useless monkey in attempts to rescue him."

"Then I'll go," said Gibson, "Otto is always jumping into things without thinking, and he'll need my intellect to get him out."

Gibson attempted to get up, only to find the fever he was almost recovered from had begun to relapse, and the resulting dizziness caused him to fall back into his sleeping pod.

"Shh-shh! Save your strength, Gibson," Antauri softly scolded, "the others will find him, you mustn't lose faith."

Gibson sighed. "Ah, well. All the same I'm taking no chances."

With what little energy he had, the blue monkey activated the long-range satelite on his ear to deliver a message. "Gibson to Chiro! Do you read? Listen, I think the final security device can only be bypassed by fully organic beings, so you might be Otto's main chance of escape. Chiro, can you here me?! Reply!"

A moment or two passed before any signals returned, but surprisingly the answer came from Nova instead!

"_Nova to Gibson! I found Chiro tied up in the middle of the daredevil obstical course. He's alright, but he's unconsious and reaks with twice as many chemicals as you have in that lab of yours._"

Gibson moaned in both pain and knowledge from experiance,"Paralysis gas. How typical. Nova, you'll have to get Chiro out of there and into the hydrotherapy tanks as quickly as possible. It's the only way to counteract the effects that I have strength enough to recall."

"_Easier said then done! This place is even more brutal then the highest setting on the Super-Robot's combat simulator! No wonder Sparx is such a dangerous pilot!_"

Before they knew it, Gibson and Antauri began to eavesdrop as Sparx joined the conversation.

"_Don't worry Nova! I'll be right there and get you and the kid out of that mess in no time!_"

"_Sparx, I can handle this! Go help Otto, you're closer to him then I am!_"

"_Nova-!_"

Antauri had enough, and activated his own communicator to increase Gibson's signal range and intervene with Sparx and Nova's romantic-comedy-style arguement.

"SPRX-77! Nova is right, at this rate you might be Otto's only hope of escape. Hurry, we don't have time to argue,Gibson's strength is failing and our signal with it! Go!"

Before Sparx could reply, Gibson shut down, communicator and all. Antauri shut his down his communicator as well before tucking the scientist in. "Rest now, my friend. We have been through so many disasters. Whatever happens, our team, our friends won't let it end in the favor of the enemy."

Hearing that, Gibson smiled for a second, only having enough strength to open his eyes open half-way, before he passed out again and began to toss and turn. The blue scientist has yet to truely fall asleep, yet was already entering his usual fever dreams. Every single nightmare known to all primate kind seemed to bombard the sick simian all at once! Antauri wished there was something he could do about that, but dispite the silver monkey's ability to read minds on a counsious and subcounsious level, he can't alter thoughts even if he wanted to. Soon enough, though, the cycle of wearing dunce caps, getting lost in elaborate forests, and even the occasional underpants scenario was broken when Gibson's mental self was confronted with a mysterious yet oddly attractive figure. **(Authors note: Ever seen ****The PowerPuff Girls****? Picture Gibson's dream woman as a monkey version of the mayor's assistant Ms. Bellum.) **Despite being aware that it's just a dream, Gibson began to lose that only grip on reality on the sight, and for once didn't care about how irrational he appears.

Knowing what that might lead to, Antauri shook himself out of his sleeping friend's head. This was one of those times that another's mind was definately a terrible thing to read, and he figured that, now that the fever dreams no longer seem to frighten Gibson, it is best to leave him alone with his thoughts... literally.

At that moment, Sparx had found the Slushie stand.

"May I help you?" said the automatic serving divice.

"Yeah," Sparx reponded, "I'm looking for my friend. Did anyone happen to order a banana-free pickle-and-anchovie smoothie with marchmallow-fudge toping?"

No sooner had he said that did Sparx find himself falling through the same trap door that Otto fell into, and was soon just as stuck... aside from the occular orbs protecting his eyes, the only mechanical part of him that seemed to have any movement was his ever fritzing magnets!

'A mangetic restrainer!' Sparx thought, 'No wonder nothing made out metal works down here, but that would mean the control system itself is made of plastic... it would also mean that I will need four times my usual Power Primate energy just to reverse the polarity in my magnets and brake the bonds. Let's see... Otto is already here, and if I could just send out a telepathic signal, Antauri would gladly do it since he can't be here personally without his condition getting in the way. That leaves one more, but with Chiro knocked out and Nova needing to concentrate on keeping him safe, who else could-?! Ouch! Using my brain to solve problems really hurts! How does Gibson stand this every day? Wait! Gibson! He's still part of the team, maybe he would-! What am I thinking?! He's sick! He might not have the strength to help me out even from a distance... would he?'

In the middle of self-debate, Sparx saw Nova having one narrow escape after another on the security screen, and that much settled it.

"I'll have to risk it!" Sparx thought outloud.

"Risk what?" asked Otto.

"Otto, I'll need an energy boost from you, Antauri, and Gibson. Help me send them a telepathic message, tell them to transfer their share of the power primate into my magnets!"

"But Gibson's sick!"

"I know! I know! It'll only be a quick loan, just a few seconds to reverse the magnetic polarity so we can escape! I'll give it all back, honest! Just keep Nova safe for me, okay?"

"Hmm...okay!"

"Good! You reach Antauri, I'll try to get through to to brain-strain."

In the midst of sending the telepathic call for help, however, Sparx almost lost his consentration on the sight of Gibson's literal dream date.

_**"**__Monkey Doodle! Just when you think you think you know a guy!__**"**_

_**"**__Sparx?Judging __my__ otherwise non-existant love life! Oh no! Confounded fever dreams! They are switching back to nightmares again!__**"**_

_**"**__You think this is a nightmare?! Check out what's going on in the real world!__**"**_

Gibson gasped as a visual recap of what's going on flashed through his mind.

_**"**__Egad! Sparx! You'll have to-!__**"**_

_**"**__Use my magnets to reverse the polarity and get me and Otto out of there before Nova and Chiro get hurt, I know!__**"**_

_**"**__Wait! You actually figured that out on your own? Truly I must be dreaming.__**"**_

_**"**__Well, here's a reality check for both of us: thinking hurts my head, and my magnets won't be strong enough unless I get a Power Primate energy boost from Antauri, Otto, __and__ you! It'll only be a quick loan; I'll give back what I can!__**"**_

_**"**__Complete and total idiocy to turn towards me for help, Sparx! In case you haven't noticed, I am trapped in a purpetual mental illusion! My illness is strong and my body is weak! I can't find the strength to wake myself up, let alone summon the Power Primate in your favor!__**"**_

_**"**__Look! You said this morning that your condition was stress-related, and I just dreamwalked on yah, right?__**"**_

_**"**__Humph! Just when I was making the best of a bad situation, too!__**"**_

_**"**__Then don't stop on my account! Just think of using the Power Primate in your sleep as a means of showing off; have fun with your illusion! That just might be enough to help you break out of your 'brain-fever' without hurting yourself and besides, dream-babes dig wild animals, I know that from experiance.__**"**_

_**"**__Well, alright, if you insist. Just... give me and Lulubelle some privacy, even you shouldn't see this sort of thing.__**"**_

_**"**__Lulubelle?!__**"**_

In a matter of seconds, the telepathic link was cut off, and Sparx found himself back in his own restrained body, but he could sence himself getting stronger as Otto and Antauri loaned him some of their primal energy. He just needed one more ounce to be able to regain control of his magnets and break the restrainer and, just when it was needed most Gibson's feverish state cooled down enough to provide just that.

"REPULSE-O RAY! GO!"

Sparx burned alot of energy with that techneck, but he knew it was the only trick he had up his bio-mechanical sleeves that could reverse a magnetic polarity. Afterwards, in returning what his friends loaned to him, he barely had enough of his own energy left over, but it was worth it to get himself and Otto set free.

"Are you okay, Sparx?" Said Otto, as the two of them dropped to the floor, "You almost lost control there!"

"I'm... fine..." Sparx answered just barely over a whisper, "help... Nova... first... Ott-"

With that much said, Sparx passed out. Nodding in agreement, Otto rushed to the control system, sawed off the plastic covering, and rewired the entire system to a complete shutdown. True he crash-landed Vertigo-a-go-go onto the surface of Planet Arabus 22, but at least Chiro and Nova were safe, and it was easier for the Super Robot to land close to it.

Just as it was doing that, however, Sparx was reviving at the sight of Adam Smash and his new manager dropping in on a hover scooter.

"Hey!" said the manager, "It's those monkeys again! Ugh! It's bad enough they didn't take a hint when security got rid of them and told them to stay out, and that they distroyed my defencive defects, but how the derf did they find the entrance to the control room?!"

Adam shook head. "I told you that 'pickle-and-anchovie smoothie with mashmellow-fudge toping, no bananas' was a stupid password!" he said, picking Sparx up in his arms, "To top that off, putting it on the menu as a reminder is even stupider!"

"Are you out of your box?!" said the manager, "Of course it's a good one... why, that menu selection's so disgusting that I was certian that nobody would bother to order it with bananas! I can say this much in their favor, though, it's about time we found a purminate place to land Vertigo-a-go-go! I really don't know what my grandfather was thinking to put an amusement park in outer space, and this planet does have everything but amusement. I think it would be easier to advertise here, and with the customers coming to us instead of us coming to them, we'll save money on fuel!"

"Does this mean..." Sparx said, weakly, "that my friends and I... are off the h-hook?"

"Sure thing, Sparky-boy," the manager said, "and your piloting coach could finally have that retirement fund I kept telling him he'll never afford. I'd say everyone wins."

"Pfft!" said Adam, "I changed my mind! I think I'll just stay here a while longer. I know my limited vision keeps me from flying, but I'll find some way to liven things up before we hit the big time on Arabus 22. 'Once a daredevil, always a daredevil', your family always says."

"If you really want to stay here, Adam, then you'll have to follow my rules my way from now on, or else you're fired!"

"Ha! Kidding! You can't fire me... I QUIT! My plan was to go native on this planet and find a way to restore my talent in stunts in spite of my poor vision, so I won't be your shiny babble anymore, but before I go-!"

Adam Smash slapped his ex-manager in the face, then carried the two monkeys (Sparx in his arms and Otto riding piggy-back) back to the super robot, and just in time to see Chiro revive and swim out of the hydrotherapy tank... and for Chiro to notice he's in his underwear!

"What's going on?" he asked, "Why am I in one of these liquid healing things, and where the doodles are my clothes?!"

"The manager of Vertigo-a-go-go spraid you with a toxic knock out gas; putting you in there was the only way to save your life," Nova explained, "and as for your clothes, Antauri is using some kind of incense compound to disinfect them. I think his method dates back to when dry cleaning was invented, but the point is, you better stay in there for a few more hours Chiro."

"In the meantime," Adam told the group, placing Sparx on the examination table before emptying his pockets, "Could you find some use for these stupid papers? My ex-boss found them in the engine room before relocating it, and all he bothers to pay me with is garbage! Truth is, I would've quit working for that jerk years ago, but after Sparx somehow disappeared, I wanted to make sure my piloting pupil was safe before I do anything too stupid. By the way, how has my little red-head been all these years?"

The hyperforce all took turns telling Adam about how the red monkey played an important role in the team, even after one of his own "stunts" had triggered the Skeleton King war. Once Sparx had rested enough, he took his mentor aside to add a few things.

"To tell the truth, the only upside to that last one was that it got me the girl of my dreams, but now I have her affection, I'll have to pull the hardest stunt of all: telling a girl who said she loves me that I love her back without sounding like a bigger doofus then I already am!"

"Well, since she made the first move instead of you," said Adam, "there's really no need to say anything. Just be honest, play it cool, and you're relationship will be fine just the way it already is... unless of course you are planning to propose, then I gotta tell you that you're asking the wrong guy! I seen it among my peers dozens of times, trust me: having that kind of commitment for any angel is the biggest sacrifice a daredevil could make."

"Uh... Nova is a whole lot more to me then just an angel."

"Break a leg, Sparx, and I don't mean literally."

"Yeah, you too, Adam Smash."

A few hours later, Adam had left the super robot, the Super Robot left Abarus 22, and Antauri had stopped by Gibson's room after returning Chiro's disenfected uniform. The blue monkey smiled in his sleep, holding his chemical-gel container more amoringly then usual, practically oblivious to how his forehead was engulfed with the silver monkey's tail.

Upon getting a reading of 98.6 *F, Antauri sighed in relief. "Well, at least his fever has finally broken, " he said, shaking his sleeping friend's shoulder, "and hopefully the nightmare chain had broke as well. Gibson. Gibson?"

"Oh please, Lulubelle, " Gibson mumbled in his sleep, "I know you mean well, but everybody knows that tree-climbing fish are purple."

Antauri shook his head. He didn't want to know if this was the kind of dream he should mind-read about, but it was obvious that the scientist was enjoying it. Still, the blue monkey had rested long enough, and although he won't offically be well enough to get out of bed for good until tomarrow, now would be a decent time for him to get used to the lab again. Everyone else on the team was already there anyway, so-

"Mister Hal Gibson! Wake up! You're going to be late for that big meeting at the Intergalactic Institute of Biological Research!"

"Huh?! Who-what-where?!"

It only took a few seconds for the smartest monkey of the team to shake off what was left of his post-slumber haze and realize the meeting place he just heard of doesn't even exist, thus throwing a look of annoyance into the silver monkey's light blue eyes.

"I am surprised at you Antauri," he explained, "crying wolf just to get me out of bed! I'd normally expect this sort of thing from Sparx, or Otto! Gasp! Sparx and Otto! Are they alright? In one of my fever dreams I had seen that those two were-!"

"It wasn't a dream, Gibson, but you need not worry. Those two came back safely, thanks to us, and are waiting for us in sickbay, though I am a little surprised that you actually gave up so much energy that you should've saved for speeding up your recovery."

"Sigh! That is just the trouble with me: all give and no take."

Before long, Gibson was able to do his job as the team's medical officer again. "Well, Sparx, it seems that your condition is little more then a minor case of fatigue, we shall both be fine in the morning, and as for you Chiro, the toxins on your skin had been thoroughly cleansed away, but I insist on avoiding anything vigorous for at least three, maybe four days."

"Good to have you back, Gibson." Chiro said with a smile.

"I would say it's good to be back," responds Gibson, taking notes in the medical reports, "but like I've said: I am not offically returning to my post until tomarrow morning."

"So before we all settle in for the night," Sparx said, holding up the enchanted journal pages, "let's take a good look at what my old pal Adam got for us!"

_"This is incredible, Zoey!" Ace said, as the two friends stood on the left shoulder of the Super Robot, "When you told me that you're alchemy teacher had to return to his homeworld to work on a big project, I never thought you meant this!"_

_"Nor did I," sighed Zoey, "but please, listen, remember when I said you could visit my world whenever you'd like?"_

_"Oh-no! Don't tell me you've changed your mind!"_

_"Worry not, my mind had not changed, but Master Heili wishes I could. You see, Alchemy is a merge between science and magic, two very different ways of thinking. Aside from being a mother to these six important little monkeys, my teacher believes it is best that I keep the distractions to a bare minimum until further notice."_

_Ace looked thoughtful for a moment or two, and then a huge smile crossed his face before he grabs her by the hand and drags her down the Super Robot's internal rooms and through the forest._

_"Where are you taking me?!" she asked, almost giggling._

_"I figured you should have at least one more distraction before I leave," he answered, "just trust me, and keep your eyes to the ground until I say otherwise."_

_Zoey was confused as to why Ace wanted her to stare at the ground, but something about this moment managed to excite her. Soon enough, they stopped running, and Ace let go of her hand. "Okay, Zoey, you can look up now."_

_Zoey looked up, and was speachless when she saw the wooden crate high in the branches of a large oak, and all six of her little monkeys were up there exploring it. It was alot like the building the Alchemist uses for his lab and home, only much closer to nature. She really didn't know what to say... she didn't know how to __feel__ about this!_

_"I give up, Ace. What is it?"_

_"It's called a 'treehouse'. Humans used to built them everywhere to live alongside nature, but as times changed, people grew content living on the ground, and the idea of treehouses were reduced to little more then a plaything for kids. I figured if you had one, you'd have the best of both our worlds."_

_"H-how long have you been working on this?"_

_"For at least two weeks, since the day we brought Otto back home. I added a little to it before and after every visit! Why do you as-!"_

_Ace's question was answered before he had a chance to finish asking, as Zoey wrapped her arms and her tail around him._

_"It is a very thoughtful gift, my friend. Thank you."_

_"Actually, I'm not quite finished... it's still a little bit wobbly, and I was intending to add an elevator system so that it would be easier for those of us without tails to carry our stuff up there, but I am glad you like it. Oh! I almost forgot!"_

_Wasting no time, Ace pulled a really old fashioned camera out of his knapsack. "This belonged to my butler's great-great-grandfather," he explained, "who used to be the photographer for the Daily Tumbleweed, which for your information, was the local newspaper of Shuggazoom Gultch."_

_"Shuggazoom Gultch?"_

_"Oh! I forgot, you don't know much about the human world. Well, according to our history, Shuggazoom Gulch was a pioneer settlement in the desert sector of the Zone of Wasted Years, during a time we now call the Age of the Wild West. Today it's just a ghost-town, which means it's been abandoned for years but tourists often flock there anyway due to rumors that the area is haunted."_

_"I didn't understand most of what you were saying, Ace, but the way you said it facinated me. The emotional passion, the delivery in the diction, I bet your intellegence is the envy of all your peers and the pride of your elders."_

_"Zoey, I'm a 'C' student. I'm too average to be a genius. Anyhow, since this thing was invented to preserve a moment into an image, I had to alter the negatives to get better color reception, and I want to use one of these moments to test it, if you don't mind."_

_Suddenly a firmiliar voice got their attention._

_"Well, since your taking pictures away from my work area, I'm sure there won't be much harm in this, so long as I am part of the image of course, if __you__ don't mind."_

_Ace and Zoey turn around, and saw the silouette of the Alchemist slowly came out of the folliage._

_"Master Heili," said Zoey, "how rare it is to see you this far from your lab. Were you truely so worried for me?"_

_"Yeah, Big Al," added Ace, "and what's this she said about you saying I can't visit anymore?! Don't you even like me?"_

_"The bond between a Master and his Apprentice is as complex as that of a Parent and Child," the Alchemist explained,"the lessons she must learn must be done gently yet firmly, not as the common knowledge that schools today provide, but rather like the skills of a family trade. Simply put, I just cannot trust her with the temptations of the modern way of life until our little monkeys could fend for themselves, but I assure you, my friend, you won't have too long to wait before then."_

_"The strangest thing about monkeys are their aging process," added Zoey, "for they develop very quicky the first five-to-seven years, and after that their aging process seems to slow to a standstill for at least half a century, maybe longer in the case of my own children. With that much in mind, I got to ask: could they be in this moment-preserving image as well?"_

_"Only if they want to," said Ace, "and everyone has to be close together. I'm not sure how well I mastered my aim with this thing yet."_

_In a matter of seconds, the snapshot (the older photo in the double picture frame) was done. Ace quietly thought it was a mess, because he didn't bother to pose anybody, but at least it was better then he expected with an experimental camera._

_"Hang onto that image," the Alchemist told him,"keep it a secret from the rest of the world, and when the time comes, you will know to meet with my apprentice again."_

_"How will I know?" asked Ace._

_"You will know." answered the Alchemist. _

_The flashback fastforwarded at least six years to the day, and Henry James "Ace Ranger" Carrington III was now fourteen years old. (Aside from the sea-green eyes with square-framed glasses, his resemblence to Chiro was stronger at this age then it was when he was eight!)_

_Ace was far more studious at this point of life then he was in elementary school, and actually grew to like Esperanto, especially when the book he has to study was __**Legendoj de la Simia Rego**__, which translates as __**Legends of the Monkey King**__._

**(Authors note: for the Earthling version of this book, look up "Journey to the West".)**

_He was just reading the passage on how the main character got the "magio obeema batalan bastono"(magic obedient battle-staff) when a strange glow surrounded the bookshelf, and he had just barely managed to dodge out of the way before it was compelled to fall on him. Once he was safe, the window swung open, and an enchanted scroll flew inside, and unrolled before him mid-air for him to read outloud:_

_**Nephew of my closest friend,**_

_**The time has come for you to regroup with my apprentice and her children. They had not forgot you and many have missed you greatly. Meet at the Peach orchard on the outskirts of the city as soon as you could manage. Many pardons for my method of getting your attention.**_

_** The Alchemist**_

_"Well that was just annoying!" Ace thought outloud, "I mean, the housemaids are going to blame me, then maybe kill me for this! He had been studying both science and magic for about six years or more for crying out loud, there had to be a better way to let me know it was time!"_

_No sooner had he said that did he notice the same glow above him that covered the bookcase, and had to dodge the chandelier before getting another scroll:_

_**P.S. I double my apologies, but I am a busy man and this sort of thing was actually the best I could think of at such short notice, and you need not worry about those nosy chamber maids. You may not yet know it, but your uncle was planning on redecorating that particular room in the mansion anyhow.**_

_"Wow!" Ace said, "He's good!"_

_Meanwhile at the peach orchard in the outskirts of the city _(Chiro almost didn't recognise the tree, but it was the very spot he found the Super Robot later on) _Zoey was waiting by the tallest peach tree in her monkey form alongside the Alchemist. The monkey team, who had grown so by then that it was hard to believe they were still children, swung above them in the branches._

_"Teacher, are you abslutely sure it was a good idea to drop the bookcase and chandalier on him like that?" asked Zoey, "It's not that I question against your creativity, but if you ask me, it would've been safer to just dream-walk like you taught me to."_

_"Well, I honestly couldn't think of any other way under all the pressure," the Alchemist answered, putting his staff away, "and besides, your the one who insists he finds you as soon as possible, and need I remind you that dream-walking is difficult, if not impossible, to do into the subconsious mind of someone who is wide awake. One doesn't need to be a master of science to know that much."_

_"Pardon my tongue, Master Heili," Zoey said, looking above her head at the antics of the monkeys she fostered, "you know how tend to get when I'm bored."_

_"Hmm. Purhaps we could practice at least one more incantation to pass the time?"_

_Zoey made a face. She had no idea what her teacher had in mind as he pulled a padlock and a pouch of runestones out of his messanger bag, but she nodded yes just to humor him._

_"Now, I hope you remember what we discussed all this time about using the ancient languages as an extention of your own power."_

_"Pronounciation is critical?"_

_"Exactly,and the spell I intend to teach you today is among the many medieval incantations I had you memorize for emergancy use only, specifically the one that can undo any lock," the Alchemist said while focusing his energy onto a runestone with a leaf-like symbol upon it, causing that symbol to appear mid-air, enlarged and glowing, "as I had told you several times already, the 'Ect' in this one is important. Are you ready to give it a test run?"_

_"Sure, I hope... ahem!...__Ect spardelo helion__!"_

_The next second, the lock was instantly undone._

_"Excellent!" The Alchemist said with a proud smile, before noticing the monkey team was watching the process, and the only one among them who wasn't in awe was Gibson, who climbed down to investigate._

_"Oh please," the young blue monkey said, looking at the padlock carefully, "you obviously put the key in and out while we were distracted, or maybe it's remote controled or-"_

_"Oh, Gibson," sighed the Alchemist, "you are one smart little monkey to say the least, but even you have a lot to learn. Now, watch closely and see what'll happen if I change one syllable: __**Es**__ spardelo helion__!"_

_In the blink of an eye, the Alchemist was covered with colorful house-cats, almost like something from a children's book, and while the sight of it left Gibson momentarily speechless, everyone else burst into laughter... even Antauri._

_"Alright, alright, so I have no idea how you did that," Gibson said at last, before returned to the treetops, "but from one brilliant minded individual to another, I must say you should know better then to make a fool out of yourself like this. It's very unbecoming!"_

_Suddenly, the voice of a young boy caught everyone's attention, bringing the laughter into a temporary hush._

_"Is their room for one more wild animal in this party?!"_

_Despite how much he had changed over the years, Zoey had instantly recognized Ace before pulling her robe out of the Alchemist's messanger bag. She wasted no time putting it on and shapeshifting into human form. "It is good to see you again, Ace," she said, "and I can see how much you've changed over the years. To be honest, I am impressed, especially with that crystal mask over your eyes."_

_"Crystal mask? Oh! My glasses!" Ace quickly took them off, "The school nurse insisted that I need them to see better, especially when I'm reading, but I really hate this pair; only nerds wear black square frames in public! Yuck! Until further notice, though, I'm kind of stuck with them."_

_Before either of them noticed, the monkey team came down from the trees and surrounded Ace and Zoey's feet. It was only Otto's hooting that got their attention._

_"Hey!" Ace said with a smile, putting his glasses back on and removing his backpack, "Otto! Sparx! Antauri! Good to see you guys again. Oh, Gibson! Just saw your reaction to the Alchemist's little magic trick; funny, but tough break! Hi there Nova! How is my second-favorite monkey girl?"_

_"Second favorite?" asked Zoey._

_"I didn't mean to offend her," explained Ace, "but for all it's worth, Zoey, you'll always be first in my books. I'm almost possitive that she'll be number one to someone else one day, just wait and see. Uh? Anybody here seen Mandarin?"_

_Right on cue, Mandarin dropped right out of the tree-branches and landed right on Ace's head just to pull his hair and attempt to bite him!_

_"Mandarin! Enough!" Zoey shouted, using her own tail to immobilize the little orange brat, "How many times do I have to tell you: 'don't attack anybody unless you know for sure its a threat'?! Monkey Doodle, this is no way for an Ambassador of Wukong to behave!"_

_Mandarin shouted a bunch of insults in the native simian tongue, which made Zoey feel rather uneasy with the expectation to translate for him._

_"Uh... he said that he was only playing around and he's sorry if that hurt you in any way."_

_"Zoey," Ace said, lowering his glasses an inch or two for a moment, "I can't believe I didn't notice it before, but you have beautiful eyes, except when you tanslate for Mandarin, and then you ruin that detail by letting them get kind of shifty... the right one's twitching, too. Are you lying to me in his favor?"_

_"Alright, I know when I'm defeated! Truth is, I dare not repeat everything he said word-for-word, but bottom line, Mandarin doesn't like you, he never did, in fact, he had actually hoped that the bookcase had turned you to bread without yeast by now. I assure you, however, that everyone else in my ever-nutty family likes you, so please, Ace, don't leave me because it isn't unanimous, I beg you!"_

_"Hey, don't worry about it, Zoey. I almost never hold a grudge. In fact, as soon as I got the 'message', I finished my homework quickly and had enough time to spare to pick up gifts for everybody. Well, they obviously have grown alot since the last time I saw them, but I'm sure they didn't change that much."Ace opened his backpack, "I color-coded the wrapping. Yours is lavender, the alchemist gets the dark-purple one, and everyone else gets whatever matches their fur."_

_The monkeys quicky opened their presents. Antauri got a toy medallion with the yin-yang symbol on it, Sparx got a model-sized helicopter, Gibson a book on herbology, Nova got a little pick toy koala (which she could only pretend to hate) and Otto got a bug-collecting kit. As for Mandarin-_

_"Used Gym Shorts?!"_

_Ace didn't need to speak monkey to know that Mandarin was aknowladging the filthy boxers with faded pink hearts. "My Uncle Clayton's old spares!" he explained, holding back a bad case of the giggles, "He wanted to throw those things out, but I managed to hold onto them these past six years for a laugh!"_

_The Alchemist was also trying not to laugh at the sight, and opened his present while everyone else just stared in confusion at Mandarin's gift. Fittingly enough, Ace had gave the Alchemist fresh stack of paper, and while the rest of them were blank, the top sheet had a letter written upon it:_

_**I don't want either of us to get into any trouble, so less furniture braking and more letter making.**_

_** "Ace Ranger"**_

_Looking up, the Alchemist smiled when he noticed what his apprentice was given: A new green dress with pink and purple polka-dots that was a few sizes too small and was quite lopsided. Judging by the fact she didn't need to use her magic to create a tail-hole like she usually does, it was obvious that Ace made it himself for her._

_"Sorry about the size," said Ace, "I had you idea you'd change shape this much in only six years, and had to use myself as a tailoring dummy. I'm kind of, how those know-it-all types say, 'Prepubetic', it runs in the family."_

_"Strange," the Alchemist said observingly, "I knew your Uncle Clayton for years,and he wasn't underdeveloped at the age of fourteen."_

_"It skips every fourth generation," Ace explained, "my kids and grandkids will have this problem!"_

_"Worry not, Ace," said Zoey, with a reassuring smile, "the dress is a decent fit, and besides, I would personally chose a friendly chimp over a gorrilla anytime. So, since we are back together, how about we continue working on that treehouse you made for me and my foster children. You did say that it has yet to be finished."_

_"Holy Shuggazoom! That's right, I didn't finish it the last time we saw each other! I'll need fresh supplies for it though, want to go to town with me and help me pick them up?"_

_"May I, 'daddy'?" Zoey asked the Alchemist, winking on that last word._

_"Just make sure you come home before the moon rises tonight." the Alchemist answered._

_Cheering, Zoey ran off into the city, only for Ace to chase after her and grab her by the hand saying: "Wait up! You don't know the way!"_

"I guess that was the start of mom and dad's first date," Chiro said with a yawn, "it's too bad that one ended too soon. I want to know everything they've been through."

"The rest of it is probably on my homeworld on Planet Neonhack," replied Otto, "or maybe the Super Robot's homeworld of Tobaratikara, depending on where we get to first."

"It'll take us awhile either way!" moaned Nova.

"Nova is right," said Gibson, "right now I think the most logical thing required is for all of us to get some much needed rest, including me."

"It has been settled then." Antauri agreed, taking the scientist by the arm and guiding him back to his was just doing the same for Sparx, who at that moment started to drift off, when she heard that red-headed pilot murmur in his sleep: "Love you... Nova."

'I can't believe I waited a whole year for him to say that,' she thought, sneaking a kiss on his left cheek, 'too bad he's asleep. Oh well, he'll get it right sooner or later; maybe when the war is over, he might propose if that isn't too much to hope for.'

Just as soon as everyone else, including Chiro, was up in their sleeping chamber, Otto had managed to sneak the Newton's Cradle onto Gibson's desk... and also snuck a peak into the _Grimwar of Nacrotis_, the scientist's spellbook. It was dusty, as it's an old book and very seldom used, but upon finding a chapter labled _Humiliation Spells for your Enemies_, the green monkey knew he couldn't doing at least one before settling down for the night. "I just hope I could say it right." he said to himself.

A few seconds later, at the Citadel of Bone, the Skeleton King was heard sneezing, as a few dozen pigeons had flocked upon him like ravens would an unaffective scarecrow. Mandarin could only stare at the whole mess, for he didn't know weither such a thing was firmiliar to him or not (in truth, it wasn't, as this Mandarin was just a formless copy while the real one was held a prisoner of war). It took only five minutes for the Skeleton King to realize that these annoyingly persistant birds were not of a natural force and had to be created by magic, and so uttered a counter-curse to get rid of them!

"Who did this?!" the Skeleton King growled, checking the dark crystal on his staff, "Who dares to challange me with such mockery?!"

Upon seeing the image of Otto hopping upside-down into his sleeping pod, the Skeleton King let out a snake-like hiss.

"I intend to distroy all of them myself upon their return, including the boy," he said, "but that little green woob must be punnished immediately! Mandarin! I am sending you to Planet Neonhack to wait for the arrival of the Hyperforce! See to it their mechanic suffers greatly!"

The clone of the orange demon-monkey gave a wicked smile, and bowed before his dark master before taking his leave. "Evil One, it shall be my pleasure."

**Aside from Gibson's dream-girl, the main shows I borrowed for inspiration in this chapter are ****The Winx Club**** and ****Yin-Yang-Yo!**** However, it is mostly SRMTHFG!**

**For future referance to those who read and review, Ace and Zoey do indeed go out (wouldn't have developed a good enough relationship to bring a kid like Chiro into existance otherwise) but as much as I hate to spoil the next chapter, the upcoming flashback involves those two having a sort of love-triangle with, of all people, that needy stalker Gyrus Krinkle! The problem with this flashback is that, while in human form, Zoey's tail is invisable to everyone except those she trusts to see it, I need an idea of how her animal traint could accidentially exposed to Krinkle! First one to give me a suggestion in the review gets to guest star in welcoming the Hyperforce to Planet Neonhack (the Las Vagas of the Nexxo 4 Galaxy). Please Read, Review, and lend a fellow writer a hand. Thank You.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own SRMTHFG! ...yet. I do own a few fan-made characters, however. I also set up a contest in the previous chapter, but the winner is under merely "Guest" so I don't know who he or she is so I'm just going to allow my childhood imaginary friend (whom I owe credit to for my pen-name anyway) to gueststar in this chapter.**

Chapter Nine

It was only a few days since they left Planet Abarus 22, and the Hyperforce were able get their next destination, Planet Neonhack, within radar, even though it might take them another day or two to get there. Had finally made a full recovery, despite a few unexpected relapses, Gibson was able to get alot more done in his science lab then ever; his new Newton's Cradle aiding his concentration. In fact, it was because that object stopped clicking that he noticed something while reaching over to reset it: one of his books, the Grimwar of Nacrotis, has been placed on the shelf upside down, something that he himself would never do... someone has been in his lab during his sick-leave!

Of course, there was only one other monkey on the team that was able to read this perticular book, let alone want to use it's spells.

"OTTO!"

The green monkey cautiously peeked into the lab.

"You called, Gibson?"

"Have you been playing around with my spellbook?!"

"Uh... maybe."

"Don't 'maybe' me! I know how you put things away... the same way you tuck yourself in! What were you thinking?!"

"Bah! It's nothing to worry about, Gibson, I only bought us time by turning the Skeleton King into a harmless dove."

It was at that moment, an incoming pre-recorded message appeared upon every screen within the Super Robot, revealing a pale-skinned girl with purple curly hair (topped with two antennas with star-shapped tips) wearing a spacesuit that resembled a red-and-yellow gown.

"Otto! It's me, Interstella Chazno! Oh I hope you are getting this! I am sending this message to you and your teammates as a warning: our sector of Planet Neonhack has been torn to pieces by some psyco orange monkey that claims to be looking for you! I eavesdropped on one of his threats, it'll make more sense with his words then mine!"

The recording switched to a security footage of Mandarin distroying the Wonderlux Gag factory, and a much older Greasy Reese trapped in a corner.

"What do you want with me?!" Reese asked.

"From you, nothing," answered Mandarin, "except vengence on your so-called 'son', Otto! I'm not sure how, but because of him my dark lord, the Skeleton King, has been covered with annoying birds! I was granted the power to take vengence for such humiliation in his stead, and if he doesn't get here soon enough, I'll serve your head on a silver platter instead of his!"

Interstella interupted the demon-monkey's laughter to finish her own message: "Normally I'd beg you to hurry up and save us all, but I heard all about what you and the Hyperforce do, so its clear that coming here will only risk endangering the rest of the universe! Otto, the needs of the many best the needs of the few, so please: stay away, far away from Planet Neonhack, change your course while you still can, and go on without us!"

Suddenly, Mandarin's voice had been heard offscreen as Interstella was surrounded by formless minions: "What's this? Another friend of Otto's? Aw! And she practically written our randsom note for us, how sweet! Tie her up and place her with that old mechanic!"

"Save yourself Ot-!" Iterstella started to yell before one of the formless gagged her, and the reception was reduced to static.

"Stella!" Otto screamed, his eyes suddenly void of the joy he always seemed to have.

It was at that moment the signal came back online, with Mandarin taking over the screen.

"Dearest Otto," he said with an evil grin, "do you honestly expect me to believe that you're stupid enough to sacrifice your own family for thousands of lifeforms you don't even know?! Admittedly, I may just be a copy, but I have several years worth of cellular memory to know you better then that! I challange you to a grudge-match at the Neonhack Gladiator Arena, against the newest design of formless, the Reaper. If you win, which I know you will not, I'll let them go and allow you to get what you and your team were coming here in the first place. If you fail, or simply refuse to fight, your mentor and his daughter sleep with the fishes... pirhanas to be spasific!"

After an evil laugh, the screen went blank.

Otto charged out of the lab in fury, and Sparx was the first to great him. "Hey, Otto, great prank on the Skeleton King, but I'm really sorry about-"

"Shut up, Sparky!" said Otto, pushing the red monkey to the ground, "Nova, you got to help me triple the volocity in the foot thrusters and continue our course to Neonhack, before somebody gets hacked to peices!" He activated his energy saws for a second, just to make his point, then he turned them off quickly before his mere-threat could accidently become a reality and headed streight to his elevator tube.

"Well, that was out of character," Nova said, helping Sparx to his feet, "normally I'm the one with anger management issues."

"I do not blame him," said Antauri, "for it is clear that Mandarin attacked him emotionally with that horrible randsom. "

"I know how he feels." said Chiro. Being an orphan for most of his life, the team's human leader knows how unnerving it is to lose just one family, and the main reason he puts the monkeys needs above his own because he doesn't want to risk losing another one. "Monkeys, mobilize!"

Chiro was right to put every monkey to their stations, as Planet Neonhack was surrounded by a meteorbelt, so while Otto and Nova tripled the energy output in the foot-thrusters, Sparx and Gibson had their hands full (no pun intended) using the fist-rockets to better steer tha super robot while firing finger missles. Occasionally, Antauri would put the brain-scrabbler's eye-beams to use, and upon noticing clone-Mandarin's ship, Chiro, driving the torso-tank, used the Lazatron Fury to disable it.

"Good thinking, Chiro," Gibson commented, "now whatever happens in the Arena, Mandarin, or rather, his clone, wouldn't be able to escape, let alone report to the Skeleton King. What's more, that final blast pushed us straight into the planet's gravitational feild."

"Yeah," said Sparx, "but now we barely have enough energy left to land this thing without crashing up!"

"Monkey team, prepare for inpact!" Antauri and Chiro said together.

Sure enough, as though by some dumb luck, the crash landing had placed the robot squarely between the arena and the largest aquarium they had ever seen, but the impact was so discombobulating it took them all awhile to notice.

"Everyone alright?" Nova asked.

"I'm okay," answered Chiro, "monkey team, status."

"My systems are functional, at least." said Antauri.

"As are mine." added Gibson.

"Don't worry about me, I've been through worse, trust me." said Sparx.

"Not me!" Otto said, sounding like he's about to cry, "My family's in trouble _and_ the Super Robot is a mess! I think I'm torn!"

"Don't worry Otto," Chiro said, trying to sound reassuring, "You just keep focused on that battle against the Reaper, well get Reese and Stella back. I know it's risky to split us up, team, but this is a despirate situation. Sparx, Nova, you check out the Trade Center while Otto is in the Arena and try to find those journal pages. Antauri, you're coming with me, I'm willing to bet Mandrin 2 has hidden his hostages in the Aquarium."

"What about me?!" Gibson moaned, "I'm no longer an invalid!"

"Gibson, you'll have to scout for data on that Reaper-thing before Otto has to fight it," explained Chiro, "in addition to that, you'll have to do some research on that clone, it's too stable compared to the copies the original Mandarin made of me, so it might give us a hint as to what we're really up against here."

Gibson shook his head, disappointed to have such a minimal task, yet he knew Chiro had a point: the Skeleton King must be planning something big in this war to have used Mandarin's cloning technique against him with a ten-fold efficiancy before the Dark One Worm mishap.

Each took to their own assignments, and as it turns out Chiro was right about Greasy Reese and Interstella being in the aquarium, for Mandarin 2 wasn't lying about the pirhanas! Being fully robotic yet full of the most spiritual energy, Antauri wasted no time at all subduing the preditory fish, but just as Chiro was about to untie the prisoners, they were surrounded!

Meanwhile, at the Carrington Trade Center, Sparx and Nova were having just as many problems and maybe more, for not only do they have to fight twice the number of formless that Chiro and Antauri are currently dealing with, but the chapter in this world was scattered. Using the enemies searching tactics in their favor, the two of them practically found at least one journal page under 58 different floor-tiles before the attack stopped, assuring the two monkeys they have got them all. The real challange, however, was getting them back to the super robot, as a new batch of bone-drone minions arranged themselves into a blockade!

All the while, Gibson remained as quick and stealthy as possible as he checked every angle of the arena. He couldn't get any data on the Mandarin-clone yet, but he did manage to locate and scan the Reaper. At first glance, it seemed like the most basic shape of formless (Gibson tried not to laugh at the oxymoronic phrase) but according to the blue monkey's scanning-system, the Reaper was far more challanging then appearance let on. Not only is it made more duriable by a volcanic energy crystal, but the ooze the creature itself is made out of is more poisonous then that of a regular formless... only he would know. (Years ago, when the real Mandarin was still in charge of the team, Gibson managed to get ahold of some residue from the first formless horde, and thought the substance to be strange, yet oddly firmiliar.)

Gibson wasted no time giving the report to Otto. "I had also seen the creature put on a test run with stationary targets," the blue monkey explained to the green one, "and it seems the main types of weapons this perticular 'bone-drone' is mostly blade related. Seems that it isn't called the 'Reaper' for nothing, for combine those blades whith the toxic substance in it's structure and... well, bottom line you'd be done for in only one swipe!"

"No problem!" Otto said, trying to sound confident dispite how scared he felt, "I'm sure that the Scritch-Scratch Doom Thrower would finish it of, or-or-or maybe the Psycho Chopping Doom Spin, or maybe, maybe-"

"If only it were that easy,Otto! Pardon my interruption, but you seem to be forgetting about the volcanic energy crystal; that detail immunes the formless Reaper to all energy attacks, and the Whirling Destructo Saws might only damage it by 10%!"

"Gibson! That only leaves me with the Vertical Razor Chariot! I can't rely on that! The walls of the Arena are too thick even for me, and if Mandarin saw me using them he'll think I'm trying to escape and distroy my family!"

"Chiro and Antauri are helping them escape, so just use it long enough to buy them the time they might require, and what's more, now is no time to give into any pressure. After all, you always seem to have your best ideas when you're having fun, and you'll need one if you are to find a way to attack the Reaper upclose and personal without ending up a green-fur-rug!"

While Gibson was rambling on, Otto noticed some old leftover pieces of armor, from when the arena was built ages ago (when that sector's more like Ancient Rome then Las Vagas).

"Don't look now," the green monkey said, pushing his blue friend aside before trying on bits and peices of the armor over his still-organic parts, "but I think I already have! Well? What do you think? Do I look like a gladiator or what?!"

The blue monkey was shocked at the sight of his friend's new image. On the one hand, the armor was a mixed image to what was illustrated in books about the very history of warfare and the very armor the real Mandarin wore on the day he betrayed the Hyperforce. On the other, it was obvious such gear was just too heavy for the green monkey, but their was no other choice, as the battle could start any second.

"Never mind that, Otto," Gibson said in senserity, "the real question is: could you possible be able to fight like one?!"

"Gibson, you could count on that much, no matter what happens." Otto said, getting his saws ready, "win or lose, I won't let the team down!"

Wishing each other luck, Otto went into the arena against the Reaper, which lead to the most brutal battle ever seen, while Gibson went up to the roof to the pedistal to better examine Mandarin 2, disgusted at the sight of the clone's impersonation of an emperor. All the same, the scanners did pick up something that was a tad off compared to the DNA of the original orange monkey.

"This is taking too long," the orange demon monkey complained, "I don't care if the Skeleton King wants them all alive so he could finish them off himself, this one should be punished by a sudden end. No matter, if the Reaper fails to kill him, at least the obsticals I've been working on would bring him to shame. UNLEASH THE SNAPPERS!"

Gibson and Otto were both unnerved at the sight of Mandarin's surprise. They were indeed formless as well, but these versions were designed to be fatal imitations of the clams with feet that had been created during the Night of Fear feasco! Otto could tell this recreation of his worst nightmare won't be so easy to defeat as last time, for if there's one thing he knew about formless was that none of them are edible, so he paniced!

Mandarin 2 laughed at the sight of the green monkey losing control of his Vertical Razor Chariot and crashing into a wall.

"How fitting it is for all this to take place here," the demon monkey gloated, pointing his thumb down, "in the very world where that rediculous nightmare had been inspired. True, the manifested versions from last time were easily cooked and devoured, but like the ones that bit your tail as a baby monkey, these ones can't be eaten, yet they could eat you... if the Reaper doesn't get to you first, of course, so just hold still like a honerable loser and get it over with!"

Figuring that he gathered enough data on the enemy, Gibson decided he was done hiding.

"This is no way for an emperor to behave!"

"What?! Gibson?!"

The blue monkey activated his photon scalpel to easily overpower the formless snappers, even though he knew it isn't powerful enough to distroy the Reaper, even if it's combined with one of Otto's energy attacks. With that in mind, Gibson emailed the data he gathered to his own lab and sent a coded distress signal to the rest of the team... only for Mandarin 2 to stun him with a portable jolt box.

"The monkey I was cloned from never liked your scientific efforts, Gibson, and neither do I. He dispised that on account that he wants you to learn from him instead of the other way around; to that Mandarin, 'learning' was a method of control. To that Mandarin, teachers are the masters while students are servants, but I am not that Mandarin! I am _better_ then him for I have _**no need to learn**_ so long as I keep the most important thing in mind: a real warrior strikes without remorse! Fairwell, Mister Hal Gibson, and good riddance!"

Just then, a surge of dark energy filled the demon monkey, and Gibson, who was just barely awake enough to hear the entire lecture, could almost hear the Skeleton King's telepatic message:_ "Mandarin! Leave the blue one out of this! Your assignment was to make my humiliator suffer, for it is my destiny to strike the final blow on them all myself!"_

"You could've done that anytime sooner, Evil One!" Mandarin 2 moaned.

_"Silance! Clearly your 'cellular memory' has forgotten about the prophecy! Now get to your spare transport and return to me! Live or die, the damage you've done to these two is plenty... for now!"_

Not saying another word, Mandarin 2 had departed the arena, taking the new designs of formless with him, giving Otto some relief before rebooting Gibson's system and returning to the super robot, which to both their surprise was already repaired. The reason for that was clear: Chiro and Antauri had successfully brought Otto's serrogate family to safety, and in return helped to do the repairs.

"I told you to go on without us, Otto," Interstella said, giving her green monkey friend a big hug, "but I'm kind of glad you didn't listen. As much as I wanted you to stay safe, I really missed you, and had got to meet all your neat friends... except, of course, for this handsom blue hunk over here."

"I missed you too, Stella." smiled Otto, "Oh! And that blue monkey's Gibson, and he's more brains then looks, believe me!"

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Interstella Chazno." Gibson said, almost blushing.

"Same here, and please, just call me Stella. Aside from this child I know on planet Earth, I don't like being called 'Chazno' by anybody!"

"You have a friend another planet?" Otto asked, feeling his own child-like wonder slowly restoring itself, "who is it?!"

"Sorry Otto, that's a secret. All I can say is that due to my... condition, I become invisible to just about everyone every time I am away from Planet Neonhack, and this one Earthling seems to be the only exception. Giggles! Everytime I visit her, those around her think I'm her imaginary friend."

"Which is why my daughter must stay on this planet until this Skeleton King war is completely over," Greasy Reese explained, "for I can't know for sure she will be safe under such an ordeal when people couldn't even see her!"

"I could scan your bio-readings and get to the source of the problem." Gibson offered.

"You're very sweet, Gibson, but your complicated stuff is needed somewhere else; thanks anyway, though."

With that, Stella gave Gibson a small peck on the forehead... he almost fainted in response, but Antauri's telekenetic abilities stopped that from happening, all while Stella was giving Otto a small gift as a momento, one the little green monkey was reluctant to take.

"Is that...that-?!" Otto stuttered sight of the small wind-up toy clam.

Stella rolled her eyes, "Look, I know you had issues with clams with feet ever since you fell into a box of this particular novelty toy as a toddler," she explained, "but I thought it would be best to help you get it over that, if you handled the source of the problem, slowly. Please, Otto, take the first steps and just hold it at least, for me, please."

The team watched as Otto, hands shaking in fear, managed to gather enough courage to grab onto the toy clam with feet. Strange as it was, the moment was actually one to be proud of.

"Well?" Stella said with a hopeful smile.

"It's... not too bad," Otto said, trying to make the most of it, "actually, this... this thing is kind of harmless when it isn't snapping at yah... it's weird though. I remember this being alot bigger!"

"To a little guy, they're probably huge, and mother always said 'fear in the mind is like air in a balloon: it tends to inflate, and too much of it could make you pop'! My mom's nice, but confusing, yet I love her all the same. Anyhow, give that orange devil a good spank in the tail for the sake of this world! Normally, what happens on Neonhack stays on Neonhack, but what just happened today was all over the Intergalactic News and we couldn't erase the footage fast enough like we usually do."

The entire Hyperforce promised to give Mandarin 2 what he deserved and end the war as soon as possible so Otto and Stella would have more time to play together.

"Great!" Greasy Reese said, extending a hand to Chiro, "Well, great to know that Otto's enployment is under new management. Keep the guy in shape, will yeah?"

"Okay, sure." Chiro said, as he reached out to shake hands with his mechanic's mentor.

"Uh, kid?" Sparx said, noticing the ring on Greasy Reese's finger, "I wouldn't do that-!"

Too late! Chiro got zapped, only for a few seconds, by Reese's joybuzzer.

"Like father, like son!" laughed Reese, giving the boy the buzzer, "I thought you looked firmiliar, Chiro! Like I said when I did that to your dad: 'this sort of thing never gets old'. Don't do it on someone that'll make you regret it, you hear me?"

Chiro nodded, as the Greesy Reese and Interstella left the Super Robot, allowing the hyperforce to take off to their next destination.

"Don't feel bad about the buzzer, Chiro." said Nova, making a face, "It could've been worse! Why, half way through repairing the robot, he asked me to-Egh!- pull his finger, and had belched the alphabet in one go when I did!"

"No offence, Nova," Sparx said to her while she brought out the journal covers before the pages they gathered, "but that happens to be one of my favorite jokes!"

Nothing more needed to be said as another flashback had been triggered.

_While out to town, Ace and Zoey got more then just materials for finishing their treehouse. Every-so-often he tended to spoil her by buying her proper clothes and shoes for more variety in her later visits in his world... Ace even paid for Zoey's lunch when her animal instincts took over the very second she smelled something appitizing at Harlington's (that's the resturant that Mr. Gackslapper used to work in before he invented hoverburgers). It was there, however, that things took a run for the worst, for on that day Gyrus Krinkle and his robotic mother were having an outing that day as well, and just so happened to be having lunch their too!_

_"Will you look at that, Gyrus?" said mother Krinkle, fueling her systems with salad oil,"even that Carrington boy has a girlfriend by now! I'll never have grandchildren at this rate!"_

_"Please mother," Gyrus Krinkle sighed, "we agreed that you wouldn't nag me while we are in public; I'm begging you."_

_"Come to think of it," the robotic parent said, "you don't even have any friend-friends yet! It's about time you started growing up and preparing to have a real life!"_

_Gyrus pushed his liver-and-onion-ring burger aside, his appitite ruined by his mother's harsh words, yet for once he didn't seem to mind upon seeing Zoey. Now that he thought about it, there was something he liked about this new girl; her mannerisms were pleasently exotic... almost monkey-like! He must have her, but money aside, what could Ace have that he doesn't?_

_Hours passed, and Ace and Zoey were able to make it back to the secret garden of Pandora with time to spare. Mandarin aside, it seemed the entire monkey team was eager to help with finishing the treehouse, which wouldn't have taken so long if Sparx and Gibson didn't waste time bickering over what color to paint the roof!_

_"Red!"_

_"Blue!"_

_"RED!"_

_"BLUE!"_

_"Knock it off you two!" Zoey scolded, "You know what the Alchemist told us all these years: we have to act as a team, he doesn't like it when we're bicking on each other. We'll give it a purple roof to be fair to both of you. Is that okay?"_

_"Fine." the two monkeys say together, prompting their foster mother to shake her head._

_"And to think," she whispered to Ace, "those two are the only pair that actually came from the same womb during a c-section."_

_"You mean Sparx and Gibson are twins?" Ace asked, shocked by the news._

_"Well, techneckly, they were going to be quadruplets, but their biological sisters didn't quite... survive that bittersweet afternoon."_

_"Which one's older?"_

_"It's an irony. Sparx was the closest in my reach during that surgery, and therefore the first one out, but Gibson has a habit of acting like he's the adult."_

_"Probably self-defence."_

_The boy and girl had a good laugh about it while mixing the two paints into one color, and were just about finished painting the roof when Zoey noticed how dark it has gotten._

_"The sun is setting," she sighed, "and the moon is about to rise. It is time we both started to head home."_

_"I don't want to say goodbye." Ace complained._

_"No need, when 'see you tomarrow' is good enough for me."_

_"As kids our age say in the city: 'its a date'!"_

_Zoey changed into her monkey form, placing her new outfits into a bag, and kissed Ace right on the nose before running off back to the Alchemist's lab, her foster-children trailing behind; unaware that some paint spilled on her tail on the way down._

_Ace had a smile on his face by the time he returned to his room at Carrington Manor, and had just gotten himself ready for bed when he heard unusual heavy breathing outside of his window. While, at first, he thought it was only a dream, the sound eventually got heavier, proving it was real before, having enough, he desided to investigate... only to regret the desicion when he found out it was some creepy person spying on him from a branch of the tall oak tree! After both boys screamed for a long time at the same time upon that moment, Ace quickly came to his senses upon realizing who it was._

_"Gyrus Krinkle?!"_

_"Hee-hee, hi, Henry! Er, I mean, Ace."_

_"Oh no! Not you again! What are you doing here?!"_

_"Uh... nothing."_

_Ace shook his head. Judging by all the stereotypical-spy-equiptment, there is no way Gyrus could possibly be doing "nothing"._

_"Krinkle, go home!" Ace said, half-screaming and half-yawning, "You know how balistic your Completely Overbearing Mechanical Mom-Atron can be!"_

_"You honestly think my mother's first name is 'COMMA'? She never told me."_

_Ace's train of thought momentarily went of track upon realizing what was just said between the two of them, and regretted it before putting himself back on course._

_"Oh good grief! It doesn't matter what she's called! All that I'm trying to say is that if she finds out you were out here past curfew she's strip us both for spare parts, which is twice as disturbing as you alone could be because we're organic and she is not!"_

_"Relax, my mother has a very heavy sleep-mode system! As long as nothing bumps into her while she's charging her batteries, she doesn't notice a thing for eight whole hours."_

_"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"_

_"Easy, Carrington, I was just going to monitor your every move so that I would know why the new girl in town prefers your type over mine. Who is she anyway? Are the two of you a unit yet? If I were to build a robotic girl to make your new friend jealous enough to dump you for me, how would you react to the mere idea of it?! Come on, we're buddies, you can be honest."_

_"GO AWAY KRINKLE! Normal... people... are trying... to... SLEEP!"_

_Ace pushed Gyrus out of the tree, who landed safely (aside from a few thorns and prickles) into the bushes below._

_"And stay away from Zoey!" Ace added, "There's a __reason__ I haven't introduced you yet, and probably never will! NOW, GOOD NIGHT!"_

_The next morning, in the underground forest of Pandora, Zoey was just waking up in her human form greeted by the entire monkey team, including the reluctant Mandarin._

_"Happy Mother's Day!" Antauri, Sparx, Gibson, Nova and Otto said together._

_"Yeah, what they said," mumbled Mandarin, "though, as I've stated countless times already: you are not our real mother."_

_"Well, she's like a mother," Gibson pointed out, handing Zoey a slug _(Chiro recognized it as a candly-pooping zoglidor like the one he got for his birthday later on)_and a water-bottle that had been decorated with exotic stones, "and I think this universal human tradition is the purfect opertunity to thank her for all she has done to take care of us."_

_"Here, eat," said Antauri, placing a tray of her favorite fruits unto the bed, "you will need all the energy you can get for whatever you have planned for today."_

_"Breakfast in bed?" said Zoey, who had only heard of the consept, "My, how sweet of you."_

_"Sparx and I made the card." Nova said, pointing to the folded banana-leaf on the tray._

_"The Alchemist made me give you these." Otto said with a smile, placing a vase full of tropical flowers on her nightstand._

_"Is that not from table in the middle of his private study, Otto?" Zoey asked, recognizing the rare flowers._

_"Ugh! My closest ally tried to give you a nest of mutant honey-bees." Mandarin whispered into her ear, recieving an understanding nod; she loves honey yet knows Otto's too eccentric to get it properly._

_"Got'cha." Zoey said, "Thank you, everyone. Your gifts are most appreciated. I cannot wait to tell Ace about this during my morning leave."_

_The Alchemist smiled as he entered the room. "You go ahead," he said, "I have planned no studies for today."_

_"Uh, my thanks, Master Hieli," said Zoey, with some consern in her eyes as she ate her breakfast, "but what about you and the monkey team?"_

_At that moment, everyone noticed that Otto gave them the slip while they weren't looking and, after a crash and the sound of buzzing, he was heard yelling: "Woo-hoo! Honey time!"_

_Everyone else ran out of the room while Zoey was just getting out of bed._

_"Busy as the bees themselves," the Alchemist said on the way out, "we shall have our hands full working as __bee-keepers__. All the same, we shall be fine, and would probably have everything under control by the time you return."_

_Keeping that in mind, Zoey looked at her leaf-card, which was nothing more then a drawing of the entire family with her image outlined with a heart (clearly Sparx drew the picture while Nova did the dirtier work), before starting her day. Normally, she would ritualisticly take an herbal bath and apply some of purfume before getting dressed, but she skipped that step today out of fear that her compounds might attract the bees. After sorting through her new wardrobe, Zoey decided on a pair of dark-brown jeans (with a barely noticable tail-hole of course), a lavender t-shirt with violet sleeves, and a pair of black hiking boots._

_Before long, Zoey met with Ace at the peach orchard, fast asleep at the trunk of the largest tree, and she almost laughed as he awoke, jumpy, to her slightest touch; rubbing his eyes to the relief of seeing his friend._

_"Ace? Did you get up early just to meet me here?"_

_"Yawn! You'd wish! This lunatic from the bad side of town kept me awake half the night!"_

_"Really? Who is it?! I could spank him for you!"_

_"Believe me, Zoey, you don't want to know. Yawn! Anyhow, I've taken care of him, so our main focus should be exploring the city together, if it's alright with you."_

_"Sure. My 'dad' and the rest of the family are having a few pest-control problems of our own... uh, bee-hive, long story... so the treehouse is out of the question today. So, what do you have in mind?"_

_"Well, first thing's first: we got to get that stain off your, um, tail-area."_

_"What?!"_

_Zoey turned around and actually noticed the paint-stain on the fur of her tail for the first time, and she paniced! All her life, she had this magic power makes her tail invisible to untrustworthy eyes while she's in human form, but unless she could wash the paint off, everyone could see it wiether she wants them too or not, and goodness knows what that'll lead to! The good news was that Ace figured something like this might happen and packed plenty of cleansing wipes just in case, which thankfully worked like a charm. The bad news was that someone had seen it, for unknown to them, Gyrus Krinkle had actually stuck to his plan to spy on the new couple, and what he seen before it was wiped away almost caused his eyes to pop out of his head!_

_"Well bite my ears!" Gyrus said to himself, just barely over a whisper, "Ace's girl... is a __changeling__ in disguise, and I'll bet she's the last of the primate tribe too. Score! I wonder if that old wives' tale is true, then I just have to make sure she is mine."_

_"Are you sure you don't want any help with that?" Ace asked, watching as Zoey finished washing off the paint._

_"Oh no you don't, Ace!" said Zoey, "I haven't forgotten what it felt like the last time you grabbed my tail! Anyhow, I'm just about cleaned up, and then I could take that day off from the lab that my foster-children let me have for Mother's Day. Maybe we could visit that new arcade I heard rumors about."_

_"Sorry, Zoey. I may still be a kid, but I'm not a little kid anymore. Now that I'm fourteen, I'm old enough to get a job. Yeah, I know I'm rich and don't have to work a day in my life, but it's on occasions such as this that I insist on it. In fact, because I am an orphan on Mother's Day, I think it's best to honor my mom by offering to help out at the Zoo. Uncle Clayton told me she always liked the zoo, because she could visit endangered animal species from all over the Nexxo 4 galaxy all in one building."_

_Zoey made a face. "What?! Are they crazy?! Animals of all sorts should be in their natural habitats, not locked up in a box! The cruelty of the human world knows no boundries!"_

_Ace looked thoughtful for a moment, then smiled knowingly. "Tell yeah what?" he said, "You can come with me there, and you could judge in the end where the real madness is."_

_Just as Zoey was agreeing to that idea, Gyrus ducked behind a near-by tree, stuck out his tongue, and pretended he was chocking himself for seventeen seconds. "Now I see what this is really about," he said at last, "Ace doesn't want to win her heart so she could turn him into a monkey, which I for one think is the right thing to do. Oh no! He's trying to make her think that this dream-crushing city-life is actually a good thing so that she could stay human forever! I've got to do something to prove that I'm the better match for her before she loses her mind and starts begging him to cut off her tail, but what? Oh-oh-oh! I know! I'll paint my face with tiger-stripes and go free all the animals in the zoo! Yeah! That'll impress her!"_

_Sure enough, Gyrus Krinkle managed to put his plan into action before Ace and Zoey could even arrive at the zoo._

_"Gyrus Krinkle are you crazy?!" Ace yelled, "Most of these animals don't know how to survive out in the open! Your actions are doing more harm then good!"_

_"Let me guess," sighed Zoey, "this is the screwball that kept you awake all night?"_

_"Well!" said Gyrus, jumping down from the back of an alien zoo animal (which looks like a purple giraffe with two heads), "I say you are even crazier, Carrington! I saw your girlfriend's tail while you were talking in the orchard! She's a changeling, isn't she?! Of course she is, and I bet you want her to be human forever!"_

_"Shh! Not so loud, Krinkle!" Ace wasted no time covering his rival's mouth... dispite being a little wierded out by the bizarre war-paint, "Listen, if I really wanted to __that__ of all things to her I would've cut off her tail years ago. Believe me, as long as I am able to recongize her as a friend, it doesn't matter to me what form she takes."_

_Gyrus pushed Ace's hand away. "It matters to me. In fact, believe it or not, it is said that when a a changeling choses a mate, especially a human mate, via giving him a kiss, he could speak the tongue native animal species... by what the paint revealed, she's really a monkey."_

_"Bah! That's an old wives tale! She kissed me on the nose yesterday, and all I could hear from ther 'foster children' was a bunch of animal gibberish!"_

_"She has to do it like you are her husband! You know, her lips on yours, pressed together so hard that it's almost impossible to breathe at the moment, yet you're both too madly in love to care about that! Zoey! The after-effects of that kiss are my destiny! Do it to be me, now, before my mother realizes I skipped out on Mother's Day in the hopes of spending the rest of eternity living in trees and eating bananas... with you and you alone."_

_Before anything more can be said, a mecha-housekeeper burst into the scene and grabbed Gyrus by the ear, prompting the young nut-job to squeal: "Too late."_

_Neither Ace nor Zoey wanted to stick around to watch Gyrus Krinkle get fourteen spankings from his mother (inspite his excuse that leaving her alone was his Mother's Day gift). To distract themselves, the two close friends spent most of the day helping to regather most of the zoo animals, and then headed streight home._

_"I see you took care of the insect problem," Zoey said upon returning to the lab, and noticing most of her family was covered in stings and soaking in tubs of herb-seaped water, but otherwise alive and well, "I had a busy day too. I met Ace's rival."_

_"What's he like?" asked Madarin._

_'I wonder if it is a good idea to tell my orange monkey that Krinkle is alot like him with only a hint of Otto.' Zoey wondered to herself, 'Hmm. Maybe not.' "Well... let's just say you were better off with the bees."_

_"I cannot imagine how," Gibson said softly as possible (he was the only one who didn't get stung, but all that screaming for his life did give him laryngitis), "aside from fleas in parasite season, I have a whole nother reason to dispise bugs."_

_Meanwhile, with his Uncle Clayton (as Captain Shuggazoom) was taking care of th rest loose zoo-animal problem, Ace had to tell the entire story, with a few details aside, of course, to Edward Jensen, the butler who covers for Tobias Burgas whenever nessasary._

_"It's bad enough that he had been spying on us and unleashed all the animals in the zoo just to avoid Mother's Day," Ace concludes, "which he tries to avoid every year just because he's __afraid__ of his own mother, but of all the guys to turn my friendship with Zoey into a relationship triangle, why did it have to be __**GYRUS KRINKLE?!**__"_

_"A better question, sir," asked Jensen, "is why not?"_

_"He's a loon!"_

_"Uh-huh."_

_"The looniest boy in the nineth grade!"_

_"In what ways, sir?"_

_"In what ways? IN WHAT WAYS?! E.J., that thing at the zoo is just the latest example of how rambled his mind is! I had to put up with him for __**six years**__ and I have a list a whole mile long as to why he needs help. Just to name a few: he claims the life of a monkey is __purfect__ compared to the life of a human being, which we know isn't true, he thinks broccoli and carrots are the most poisonous vegitables in the universe when he isn't even allergic to them, and just last week, while our biology teacher was giving a lecture as to where babies __really__ come from, Krinkle called the teacher an idiot and said that 'everyone knows babies are built in a factory in another dimention and delivered to the doorstops of expecting families by magical vultures'. Ha! You'd think if he was going to keep believing that old folk tale at his age, he'd at-least get the species of bird right! I'm telling you, E.J., if I so much as __hear that guy's voice__ again, it would be too soon!"_

_As if on cue, Gyrus Krinkle, who somehow managed to escape his mother, came bursting into the Manor with a set of blueprints._

_"Hey, Henry! Guess what? Mother found out about our triangle and thinks that I am finally obsessing over girls instead of monkeys-"_

_"Which we both know isn't true!" Ace interrupted, and Krinkle unrolled the blueprints._

_"-the point is, that inspite a tender rear, Mother forgave my actions at the zoo and said that me 'acting my age' is the best gift I ever gave her. Of course, it's going to take awhile to get your girlfriend to dump you, so I'm working on that robotic fake-girlfriend I told you about last night for me to practice on and use as a means of protection from Mother. It'll take me a while to make her 'pretty' on my tight budget but she'll have her prototype form and functions ready by the end of the month, maybe even in two months, depending on our homework."_

_"Look, Krinkle," Ace sighed,moving his glasses to pinch between his eyes,"if you are asking me to help benefit your crazy scam to make Zoey and your silly project have a cat-fight over you, then fine. I'll pay for it, but only on the condition that you leave both of us alone when this stupid plan fails. What are you going to name your home-made 'date' anyway? Mecha? Robotina? Princess Platinum?!"_

_Krinkle smiled as he pointed to his blueprints, "It's all hear in the plan."_

_Ace re-adjusted his glasses, and found that the lable on this creation isn't mechanical at all, except for the surname:_

_JINMAY TRON_

"Jinmay?!" Chiro practically gasped when the flashback was over, "Gyrus Krinkle was the one who created Jinmay?! All to make my mom jealous!"

"And your ol' man paid for her makeover," Sparx added, "knowing the plan would backfire on that kook anyway. Monkey Doodle! No wonder Skeleton King found her drifting in outer space, the poor girl must've came to her senses and ran away... er, flew away, only to run down her battery and the rest's history!"

"You and your consperacy theories." said Nova, rolling her eyes before giving her red-headed lover a playful nudge.

"Though we'll have to admit," Antauri noted, "that one is actually well thought out. We might need at least one more flashback, however, before we could know for sure."

"And there's one on Tobaratikara!" Otto said in an almost sing-song tone, "The home-world of the Super Robot! I'll bet the big guy will take us all the way there himself!"

"As long as nothing jinxes it, of course," said Gibson, going over the data he gained scanning the Mandarin-clone, "that might give us plenty of time to rest and regroup. In addition to that, I have several things to recalculate."

"Oh what?" said Sparx, "You mean besides the fact that I'm blood-related to you?! Hey, that's a shocker to me too, but that should be the least of our problems until we end this stupid war once and for all."

"That's not what I meant," Gibson moaned, "although, I might need to run some tests on both of us later on for that one. What I was talking about is that I've already got the results of Mandrin II's DNA, and it seems that the main reason this clone is stable is because it's genetics come from more then one source."

"WHAT?!" the rest of the team said together, as Gibson put the results in simulation form upon the main screen of his lab.

"It seems that the DNA of the original Mandarin was only used as an outline to give a convincing form to this perticular formless bone-drone. Upon closer studies, I found what I assumed to be a secondary genetic strand to be those of two other doners. I recognize one of them to belong to Chiro, which might be a leftover from the original Mandarin's attempt to create an army modeled after our one true Chosen One-"

"Which I still think is just plain wrong!" Chiro interrupted, trying not to shutter at the memory of that mishap.

"-Ahem! Anyhow, I cannot say for sure who the third donor is to this copy of our previous leader, but judging by what we've been through this past year, I could assume that genetic strand could be from the Skeleton King himself. If that theory is proven correct, I could use the data in that strand of DNA to find a way to counteract the corruption enough to atleast bring peace to the man he once was in the afterlife."

"And if not?" Antauri asked, being wise enough to understand that knowledge alone might not be enough to solve everything.

Gibson sat himself down and shook his head while muttering: "I'd probably have to start all over again."

**Good grief! These chapters just keep getting longer and longer every time, don't they?! At least we are making progress (though I hope my imaginary friend didn't blab too much about me in this chapter). Anyhow, although the Super Robot's homeworld is the last place to look on the list Chiro's parents left the team in Chapter One, that isn't the last chapter in the flashbacks... both journals are only half full! The rest of the pages just so happen to be here, on Planet Earth! (For more details, check out my one-shot "A New Day", which holds a verse from the prophecy. You could help me add verses to it if you want to.)**

**Ace and Zoey didn't add Earth to the list, figuring that getting the Hyperforce to gather data everywhere else would put Skeleton King through a wild-goose-chase, wearing him down enough for our heroes to win, but now that the journals are half full, the message must be sent... through Jinmay herself! Read and Review. Thank you.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry if these chapter updates are taking too long. See, I have a laptop, the wireless connection signal in my new home is terrible (even though the place itself is worth moving into to say the least), and one of my ankles has a muscle-sprain so I can't really go anywhere with better internet survice for a few weeks! All the same, I'll do what I can to keep adding to this story and consider myself lucky to post anything.**

**Disclaimer: I may own a few fan-characters (especially Ace and Zoey, who grow up to become Chiro's parents) but I don't own SRMTHFG! and probably won't until. by some miracle, I could reach Ciro Hieli himself and get his permitted copyrites.**

Chapter Ten

With planet Tobaratikara about as vaccant as it was during their last visit, and the Super Robot's "brother", Slingshot, taking care of the local villain (the brain-in-a-jar that lied to them before) the Hyperforce found that recieving the journal pages here almost too easy. Then again, that wasn't the only thing they found in Takeushi's private study, for in accidently knocking over an old star-chart system, Otto had found a piece of paper that, despite the lack of enchantment, matched the handwritting in the journal of Chiro's father.

This was what's written on it:

"JINMAY TRON" EMERGANCY RESTORATION CODES:

MOTOR FUNCTION- 11.20.04

SENSES - 02.06.05

PERSONALITY-10.24.05

"ORGANIC" CHARACTERISTICS - 10.07.06

MAXI/MICRO RESIZERS - 10.28.06

MEMORY - 09.18.04

Chiro tucked the paper into his shirt, right next to the mechanical heart around his neck (Jinmay's heart, in fact, which she replaced with the toy monkey he made for her). He then joined the rest of the team at the center table of the long abandoned room, knowing that the flashback in the enchantanted journal pages won't start without him. 'I just hope that whatever memories my parents had of her is worth restoring in her own head.' he thought.

_It was Father's Day by the time Project: "JINMAY TRON" was near completion; all that was needed was the makeover... and good grief! She needed it. At the time, Jinmay's original form was much like the toys Gyrus "the Weasel" Krinkle aways made for himself as well as the repairs he eventually started making on his own "aging" mother. In fact, the poor robot-girl looked like a miniture version of her super form, except when she isn't using her hair-cannons in a "test run" in which she protected her creator from bullies. Without those cannons out, all she had for hair was a patch of muddy-brown broomstick-brissles or the head of an old mop, depending on the mood Gyrus was in when he wakes up in the morning._

_"Krinkle, you are lucky that I have the fortune to make your pretend girlfriend look more realistic and beautiful," Ace said, rolling his eyes as the prototype-Jinmay was being taken to the basement of Carrington Manor, "but all the same, you might have my specialists' work cut out for them."_

_"Laugh all you want, Henry Carrington III," responded Gyrus, hanging upside down from the oak behind the manor, eating a banana (peel and all), "just as soon as Jinmay becomes lifelike enough to make Zoey Sulphur jealous enough to dump you and steal a kiss from me, I'll gain the abillity to speak monkey and you'll be the lonely guy who has nothing but his money to comfort him for the rest of his life."_

_Ace couldn't ignore the possibilty of that happening for, unlike his uncle Clayton, he has no interest in being a playboy and wants his relationships to be genuine; to that end, he also could tell that his rival turned temporary-partner was pursuing Zoey for all the wrong reasons. _

_"Even the most successful plans have a chance of failing, you Weasel," explained Ace, "it's just luck played in favor of the other direction. Do you have any idea what you would do if, for any reason, this crazy idea __doesn't__ work?"_

_Gyrus Krinkle almost chocked on the banana... almost... before going into a frenzy,"It won't fail! It's fool-proof, you hear me?! FOOL-PROOF!"_

_"I was speaking hypotheticly." said Ace, trying to stay calm (even though his entire body is getting a headache just standing next to Krinkle)._

_"Oh, well, in that case..."_

_"Uh-hmm. Go on."_

_"If my plan fails, I would distroy everything in my path just to get the frustration out of my system, and pick up the pieces of whatever's left over. If fate allows Zoey to live, I'll just steal a kiss form her, instead of the other way around, and hope it's just as effective. If not, well, I'll just have to keep learning the language the hard way by watching 'Wild and Wacky', you know, that public TV show Mother disapproves."_

_"Oh no! You mean you actually watch that continuing-serial-type nature documentry about how animals do crazy things human society wouldn't do just to get what they want in their natural habitat?"_

_"Don't tell anybody, but it's my favorite show. Did you know that, in some species of monkeys, females actually throw rocks at males they like, just to get their undivided attention? I tell you, if that piece of trivia is true with changelings, such as Zoey, it'll be worth a few bruises just to sprout a tail."_

_"Gyrus 'the Weasel' Krinkle, didn't anybody ever tell you that you're wierd?!"_

_"Only my Mother. Everyone else says I have an Obsessive Cumpulsive Disorder for creepiness."_

_While Ace was wishing he was somewhere else, specially polishing shoes at the bowling ally his dad used to visit alot, Zoey was having a few problems of her own. Because it was Father's Day, the entire monkey team was making gifts to honor their father-figures back in their native homeworlds, except for Mandarin. "When you are a child of the Power Primate itself,"he explained, "you have no need for a father in the mortal plane-of-existance."_

_"Well put, Mandarin," said Antauri, putting together a crude-yet-effective set of prayer-beads for Master Xan, "all the same, we have to respect our elders in any way possible."_

_"Antauri has a point," Zoey smiled, while ruffling the fur on the orange monkey's head with her human hand, "rolemodels can be just as important as those related by blood. I'm sure you'll find somebody to look up to with respect sooner or later."_

_Mandarin pushed Zoey's hand away in disgust, and headed for the trees shouting: "You all could do as you wish for now, for one day, everyone in the universe shall respect me, and do my bidding without question!"_

_"Oh, grow up, Mandarin!" said Nova, washing the glue off her hands. After fooling around with the camera Ace left back at the treehouse, she was able to make a collauge of self-photos for Master Offey... mainly images of fighting technecks she learned in the wild. The moment she was finally cleaned up, however, Nova turned around to find Sparx peeling what was probably the best picture in the mix straight of the peice of treebark she used as posterboard!_

_"Nice pics, Nova," the red, mischievious fuzzball smiled, waving the photo around, "do you mind if I keep this one?"_

_"Sparx! Knock it off!" Nova screamed, snatching the picture back and slapping it back with the others, "The glue didn't even start drying yet! Ugh! You ruined it!"_

_"Whoa! Take it easy, Nova. I didn't mess it up that badly... at least as badly as I did that sunflower bouquet you've made for the Alchemist, anyway."_

_"WHAT?!"_

_Zoey shook her head. Dispite knowing where this may lead, she also was aware that (dispite being young adults in their kind's natural aging process) these two were still too young for a monkey's equal to what humans call a "love/hate relationship"._

_"Uh, Sparx," the female caregiver said, changing into her monkey form to give better eye-contact to both of them, "I am sure that Nova appreciates your honesty, but their comes a time when even the most instinct-driven animal has to think before he acts."_

_"Yeah," Otto said, bringing in an old, dented, rusty old chalice, "like that mutant honey-bee thing last month! That's the last time I mix chemicals into an insect's feeding tank without even knowing what's in the stuff...even though that project actually worked in helping those bees make twice as much honey as regular bees."_

_"They also stung twice as hard!" Sparx and Nova said together._

_Otto made an odd face, which looked like a scrunched up smile with his tongue out, all while softly hitting himself in the top of his head with his fist, "hee-hee, ugh, yeah. Anyhow, I'm playing it safer this time, and making a macaroni-chalice paperweight for Greasy Reese. Can I borrow some of your tree sap, Nova?"_

_"How did you know I made it out of-?" the yellow monkey started, only for her to shake her head upon realizing it doesn't matter, "Oh! Never mind. Just be careful with it! It took me four bubble baths and garden-hose just to get it out of my fur!"_

_Sparx grabbed hold of the chalice while Otto was recieving the glue. "Hey! Nice framework, Otto," he said, "what did you do? Rob the history museum to get this?"_

_"Even better," the green monkey smiled, "I found it at the best place on the entire planet: the Shuggazoom City Dump! Isn't it amazing what people these days just toss out?"_

_"More like a nightmare if you ask me!" Zoey moaned, "As the city grows in size and population, those who live there care less-and-less about what's happening to the outside world, and the so-called 'Zone of Wasted Years' grows because of their inconsideration; their stupidity! I bet most of them have no idea that they are poisoning us, as oil from their harvesters leaked into the Hidden River. Otto, if not for the filtration system and boilers you and Gibson helped the Alchemist create for the lab, there wouldn't be enough clean water for us to survive, let alone to clean us up, but all the same the rest of the Garden of Pandora is dying."_

_"Or would've already by now," Gibson added, walking in on the conversation, "sorry to interrupt, but inspite last month's shinanigans, I might need your help with my Father's Day present, Otto."_

_"Really? What 'cha have in mind?"_

_"Well, just a week ago, while looking around Carrington Manor for ideas, I found an old hearing aid in a box within one of the west wing dormitories and, recalling Pr. Nucleus to be hopelessly absent minded, I've tried to rewire that tiny device into a bio-electronic planner and reminder system ever since. Long story short: I think that I have... broken it."_

_"I'll fix it! Come on, let's go!"_

_Upon the mentioning of Carrington Manor, a thought crossed Zoey's mind. 'The Carrington clan has enough wealth to pursuade anyone to do anything, and I have not seen Ace for quite awhile lately. Maybe if I visit him, he might have the solution to our polution problem.'_

_She was going to tell the monkey team that she's leaving but, upon seeing the comotion that was being made from Sparx testing his Father's Day gift for Adam Smash (a coconut crash-helmet that thankfully worked) Zoey thought it was better to just leave quietly. It was the only thing Zoey could do to fight the temptation to stay with them in times like that, and they really aren't babies anymore!_

_Switching to her human form (and had long mastered the abillity to make her clothes disapper and reappear in time with her shapeshifting) Zoey wasted no time reaching Carrington Manor, and discussing her dillema to her favorite boy there._

_"I just thought removing the oil from the river purminatly would make a decent Father's Day present for the Alchemist," Zoey concluded, "and for thousands of generations in fatherhood to follow."_

_"I would like to help, Zoey," sighed Ace, "but, right now, I have my own problems!"_

_Before Zoey could ask Ace what he is even talking about, the sound of someone clearing his throat caught their attention. Turning around, they saw Gyrus Krinkle (who actually cleaned himself up for a change) standing arm-to-arm with the new and improved Jinmay Tron!_

**(Author's note: In this flashback, the biggest difference between the original design for Jinmay's basic form and the image she held in the show's first episode is her hair. While more recently she has pink hair in pig-tails, to better hide her head cannons, back then she had lavender hair, which was styled in a big poof like in the musical "Hairspray"!)**

_"Zoey, meet my 'girlfriend'," Gyrus said with his creepy grin before adding in a whisper, "jealous yet? You could prove yourself the better catch and kiss me any time."_

_Zoey shook her head._

_"You are such a __playboy__, Krinkle," she said, using the word with sarcasm, "probably even worse then Ace's uncle."_

_"Eat your heart out." said Gyrus, before watching with shock as the two girls quickly became the closest friends._

_"Hi. My name is Jinmay Tron, I'm new in town."_

_"Greetings, newcomer. I am Hen-Shi Kunsuizan, but I had to change it to Zoey Sulphur upon my first visit to the big don't need to do that since yours is easier to recall, Ms. Tron."_

_"Please, call me Jinmay."_

_"All the same, it's a pleasure to meet you. So, Jinmay, where are you from?"_

_"I am from Planet Earth. I've been imported into space with several others when our homeworld got polluted, leaving several mashines to clean up in our absense. We figured the toxins would be removed in about seven years and it'll be safe to return, but after eight years had passed and our ships wouldn't allow us to return, I knew something was wrong. So I had stolen one of the ships escape pods and started to search for a way to save our home planet or at least find a new place to live if it's too late. After getting caught in a hyper-boost warp tunnel, I crash-landed on this planet, and that's when Krinkle found me."_

_Ace facepalmed upon hearing that._

_"You sure know how to program an elaborate 'back-story', Weasel," he whispered, "too bad for you, the whole thing is a load of baloney. After all, Planet Earth is a myth, and those who actually believe it exists claim the Buy-n-Large insident was over 700 years ago, universal time. There's no way Jinmay could've been there, she's too young."_

_"You forget she mentioned the warp tunnel," Gyrus whispered back, "haven't you heard of the Theory of Relativity? Bottom line, she's saying she was hyper-boosted into the future, maybe even an ulternate reality."_

_"All the same, that story concludes that the Earthling's largest spaceship, the Axiom, had recently landed on it's own planet and the humans on-board are pickling up the garbage themselves, as they should've from the get-go. When she hears that, Jinmay's programming will compel her to 'return' to a planet that might not even exist."_

_"Not if I reveal that she's really a robot first, and when I do she'll be so confused that just about anyone could reprogram her to do virtually anything, and that includes me reprogramming her to be more aggressive towards Zoey. That'll force your girlfriend to reveal her true animal nature while fighting off my 'girlfriend' to the bitter end, and that changeling would be so greatful for me getting rid of her human form forever she'll have to turn me into a monkey!"_

_"Zoey isn't my girlfriend, Weasel, she's my best friend, and the way you keep thinking that getting some pretty face would get her jealous enough to prefer you over me, I'd say you are nuttier then a fruitcake and a pinecone put together! In fact, I really wish I wasn't an orphan right now, do you wanna know why?! Because both of my parents were shrinks and YOU NEED HELP!"_

_There was an akward silance as the boys realized the girls were watching them._

_"Gyrus," Jinmay said at last, "you were using me?"_

_"What's going on here?!" asked Zoey, "Are you two fighting again?! Jinmay was just in the middle of telling me about these WALL-E units her planet is using."_

_"Oh-no! Zoey!" Ace moaned, "Don't tell me that you actually believe planet Earth really exists!"_

_Ace places a hand on Jinmay's chest and opened the main dashboard. Jinmay was surprised, but Zoey only facepalmed in response._

_"There! You see?!" Ace shouted, "She's a fake, and so is her story! Gyrus Krinkle created Jinmay just to make you jealous enough to distroy her and kiss him, and I helped him make her pretty and life-like just to settle a bet as to weither or not it would fail! After all, we made a deal that he'd leave both of us alone when it does."_

_"Uh huh," Zoey said, rolling her eyes while closing Jinmay's dashboard hatch, "I thought there was a reason I hadn't seen you for a whole month with your public school closed for summer, though I wish you weren't so inappropriate with your confession."_

_"What?! You mean you knew planet Earth is only a myth and that Jinmay is a robot?"_

_"Oh, Earth is real, you just haven't seen it yet. Jinmay is real too, just not by the way you define the word. There are only two things about this whole mess that are not real: one is the way Jinmay is connected to Earth, and the other is the way Krinkle claims to love both of us."_

_Thinking for a moment, Ace finally nodded, "You sure have your own way of thinking, Zoey." he said, "Now, about the sludge in the Pandora River; the intergalactic Mail-Carrier has been on the fritz lately, and rather then try to fix it, the people who work for my uncle think it'll be 'easier' to just drill some oil wells to fuel some old-fashioned gas-guzzling delivery rockets!"_

_"Can't your uncle do anything to stop them?" asked Jinmay._

_"My uncle is too busy with industrial paperwork, his playboy-lifestyle girlfriends and... something else to even notice!" said Ace, "I got nothing! You'd have to have superpowers to stop all mining mashines, and I don't want to bother 'Captain Shuggazoom' while that crook Master Mongroloid is on the loose!"_

_"It's up to me, then." Zoey said, "if only I had some transportation to where-ever-they-are!"_

_Hearing that, Ace pulled out his secret remote-control watch (which he made as an addition to his own copy of Jinmay's blueprints), activated it, and typed in the Motor Funtion code as dicretely as possible. At that instant, Jinmay's eyes flashed gold for a few seconds, and when her eyes were back to normal, she smiled. "I could do that," she said, grabbing hold of Ace in one hand and Zoey in another, "just tell me where the mining mashines are and hang on tight! I have no idea how much power these things really have yet!"_

_At that moment, Jinmay took off like a miniature rocket as she carried her two friends to the Zone of Wasted Years. From quite a distance, Ace, Zoey, and (possibly) Jinmay overheard Gyrus Krinkle ranting on about his creation's behavior:_

_"No-no-no-no-no-no-no! She was supposed to use that feature to carry __me__ to school in style! Now how am I supposed to be the most popular guy on campus?! I will get you for this, Ace!"_

They hyperforce couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the mining devices ruining the landscape, for it was covered with the very weapons that they now use! Electronic Ghost-Claws, Magnet-Ball-Blazers, Cybovac Drills, Energy Saws, Robo-Tomahawk Fists, and even Plasmatic Swords-and-Sheilds sprouted out of each mashine! It was a real thought-provoking moment for the entire team as they watched Zoey attack each mashine and distroy all but one set of each in her vengence against those who harm nature. What happened next in the flashback, however, was the real surprise.

_"Zoey! Look at this!" Ace said, popping up from one of the holes holding a rock, "These miners weren't drilling for oil at all! While some of that sludge was from oil-wells scattered across the Zone of Wasted Years, it was mostly leaks from the mining devices themselves!"_

_"It matters not," Zoey said, picking up the remaining weaponry, "pollution is still pollution, and I made sure that the punnishment fit the crime by giving them their own mess to clean up. I have no intention to leave until they've cleaned up every inch of the area."_

_"I hate to interrupt," exclaimed Jinmay, "but what were they really after?"_

_"This!" answered Ace, rubbing his sleeve upon the rock he was carrying, which soon revealed a bold white gleam and a few matching sparkles. _

_Zoey never seen anything like this before, and so couldn't help but ask: "What kind of a stone shines like that?"_

_"Don't tell me," Ace said, teasingly, "let me guess: the Alchemist never told his apprentice about the so-called 'precious metals' before, right? What irony, most who combine science and magic know of atleast seven archetype consept metals, and silver, symbolic on several planets for clarity and subtle strength, just so happens to be one of those seven!"_

_"Well, this might sound a bit... odd," Zoey admits, "but whenever I ask to learn about metal, my teacher and father-figure always, how you city people seem to say, 'zips it'. Ace, as crazy as it sounds, I think the mere mention of this sort of thing brings back bad memories of Tobaratikara, where science was common and magic is rare."_

_"Well, here's the non-symbolic end of it, Zoey: just a handful of silver is equal in wealth to almost a fourth of Uncle Clayton's fortune! What's more, on this planet, mining on government property without a licence is illegal, and even if they had the right papers, it's not right to take all of it for themselves, only 40% is theirs while the rest is to lower taxes!"_

_"Shut up kid!" one of the miners shouted, "Carrington Industries pays us well, sure, but none of us are getting rich fast enough! That fat-cat Clayton should be working for one of us and with all this silver, he'd have to just to get his pride back!"_

_Right on cue, Captain Shuggazoom showed up to investigate the ruckus, only to hear the threat upon his playboy alter-ego and corner the man who opened his big mouth, for he was obviously the leader of the mining scam._

_Later that day, as the sun was starting to set, Clayton Carrington called Ace and Zoey into his office, where a pile of silver bricks was waiting in the middle of the floor._

_"The captain let on a good word for you kids," Clayton explained, "and the mayor of Shuggazoom City has agreed you should each be rewarded as many of these bricks as you could carry. Of course, that new girl Jinmay was being too modest if you ask me. She only took one brick, and said she had plans to change the way she looks... something about keeping her creator from recognizing her or something like that. Ha! If she thinks she could fool the God of the Universe itself, she has to be crazy."_

_"Well, uncle Clayton," said Ace, "for all we know, that could run in her , Zoey here did most of the work."_

_"Hush!" Zoey reacted, giving Ace a painful nudge in the ribs,"Clayton, if you ever meet Captain Shuggazoom again, tell him that he witnessed the results Lady Wukong, in action for the first time in her lifelong mission against enviornmental injustice and all around evil!"_

_Clayton shook his head, almost laughing: "Believe me kid, being a super-hero, or heroine in your case, is a big responsibility. You could've gotten yourself killed back there. Tell you what, though, if you could carry a huge amount all the way home without getting robbed, I might convince C.S. to get you a proper superheroic uniform for your twentieth birthday. How's that; sound fair?"_

_Zoey showed her teeth in anger, almost blowing her cover with a monkey-like screech before she caught herself, took a deep breath, and used both her arms and her (invisible) tail to grab at least 40, maybe 50 silver bricks (each weighing 32oz)... then throw them at Clayton's face!Being taken by surprise and off his super-hero duty, Clayton ended up falling backwards as Zoey stormed out the door. "Use that many to buy yourself enough common sense for two!" she yelled, "Give the rest to charity, where it belongs!"_

_Upon getting enough distance, Zoey used her tail to carry the collected mashine parts to the Alchemist's lab, 'maybe father would accept these as a gift and turn them into something good,' she thought, looking down to the still-polluted Pandora River, 'which is more then what money from that idiot player could buy, even if he is the uncle of my best friend.'_

_As the term "best friend" echoed in her head and heart, something truly amazing happened: right in the oil-infested water, a bright-purple light began to glow, beaconing Zoey to investigate it, so she did. There, at that moment, she found a stone at least half the size of her heart, glowing and pulsing, and where-ever it's glow touched, the filthy water become pure enough to drink, if only for a moment. At the time, such purity was only wide enough to reach from one shoulder to the other, but when Zoey touched it and fished it out, that stone, that rare jewel in the rough, shown twice as bright, and a stream of light hit the river water. In the blink of an eye, Zoey saw that the Pandora River, and the plants in the secret garden that feeds off of it, were purified once again, as though the oil spill never happened._

_"Purhaps there's some hope for the future of my family yet." She said, trying in vain not to laugh as her heart filled with joy as she carried the Jewel of Hope in her hands for the first time, and shown it to the Alchemist while delivering her crude Father's Day presents. He listened well to her elaborate tale, before showing her what he had in his lab... 47 bars of silver._

_"Captain Shuggazoom brought them to me while you were at the river," he explained with a smile, "He wants me to save them for a later project. It seems that the crimewave has gotten stronger this year, and most of those who offered to be his assistant are still far too young for the task. He told me he feels it would be less shameful to be aided by a mashine that could be put back together then by a child who would only throw one's life away in battle."_

_Zoey didn't say a word as she turned back into a monkey and climbed up to the bed-baskets made for the monkey team. Each of them were already asleep, but that didn't stop her from running her fingers through the hair on each head before giving every single monkey a goodnight kiss on the cheek. The only two she had trouble with while doing that was Mandarin, because even in his sleep he is a stubborn monkey, and Otto, because his odd sleeping habits makes her have to catch herself before she winds up kissing the wrong end._

_After she finished tucking them in, she switched to her human form and changed her clothes from her favorite city-visiting outfit into her nightgown, just to kiss the Alchemist goodnight._

_"I love you, daddy," she whispered, before tucking herself in, "don't stay up too late doing all those projects; you've yet to finish but one."_

_"Pleasant dreams, Dearest Hen-shi," said the Alchemist, using his apprentice's birth-name with true effection._

_Meanwhile, back at Carrington Manor, Ace was just getting ready for bed himself. _

_"Goodnight, everybody." He muttered as he buttoned the shirt of his pajamas, knowing he's in a mansion full of people and nobody would bother to answer unless it's their job too do so. Even his uncle Clayton wouldn't bother to kiss him goodnight, as that playboy was already busy kissing his girlfriend of the day._

_"Goodnight." a small voice at the window said. Ace turned around, quick and annoyed, expecting it to be Gyrus Krinkle again, only to be surprised and relieved at the same time when it turned out to be Jinmay, with her more signature look._

_"Jinmay? Wow! Pink hair with pig-tails, huh? You have better taste then you Father...uh, if you could call Krinkle of all people that, of course."_

_"Yeah, I know, Ace. I kind of feel sorry for his mother, but who knows? Maybe he'd be a more responsible and caring person by the time I come back."_

_"What?! 'Come back'? Where are you going."_

_"Planet Earth. Look, I know I'm not really from that world, but that makes me want to visit it all the more, you know?"_

_"You mean you are going to look for a planet that you know nothing about, using nothing but your own built-in rockets for transportation?! Jinmay you... you might never make it even if you did have a clue on which way to go! You'll run down your batteries! At least let me fine-tune your resizer system so that you'll gave more thrust in your rockets and make it half-way across the universe without getting into any troub-"_

_"Ace, really, I'll be just I leave just the way I am now, Krinkle wouldn't hear me take off, let alone know I've ever left, and besides, I'll probably have an easier time steering myself in my basic size anyway."_

_"Running away from your problems would solve diddly, Jinmay."_

_"What choice do I have?!"_

_"You could live with me in the manor; we could keep each other company for as long as we need to... um, on second thought, that might not be a good idea. This is about what you want, not me. I mean, what are god-father's for, anyway?"_

_"My god-father? You?!"_

_"Why not? Krinkle might've built you, but I used my wealth to make you complete. All I ask is that you come back in one peice, no matter what happens, okay."_

_Jinmay kissed Ace on the cheek before taking off. "Thank you, Ace! Happy Father's Day!"_

_The very moment Jinmay flew out of sight, Ace peeked into the box where he kept the remote-control watch and the code sheet, and was just about to use them, but decided not to._

_"She'll come back on her own," he said with a yawn, as he shut the box and pulled up his sheets, "when she sees how vast the universe is and how small her energy cells are, she'll have to come back and take me up on my offer by tomarrow morning; maybe next week."_

"But she didn't come back on her own." Otto said, "She was probably running on fumes by the time she realized Ace was right, and ended up stuck in space!"

"And it just had to be the Skeleton King that found her;" added Sparx, "helped her forget all about what she was running away from in the first place, and for what? So that she'd be enpty-headed enough for him to reprogram her and use her against us?! We were lucky that crazy idea backfired on him!"

Chiro was torn, as he looked at the restoration code-sheet. The watch was missing, maybe it doesn't even work anymore, but the memory restoring code still might, but would it be worth using it on her? On the one hand, if his girl was to be reminded that she was created by that creepy Gyrus Krinkle, it'll probably terrify her beyond any hope of forgiveness. On the other hand, the enchanted journals were only half full and they finished the list of places to look, so she might be the only one who knows were the rest of the pages are...

...or at least she would be, if Skeleton King didn't wipe her memory. Antauri guessed their leader's debate. "I had told you before that no memory can be erased entirely," the silver monkey said, "but it seems that the final choice doesn't belong to you in this ordeal."

"Yeah, I know," Chiro sighed, "it belongs to Jinmay. I just... I just don't want to disturb her if she wants to go through with this when we brake the news to her."

"If she does, I'll know how she feels," said Nova, patting Chiro on the shoulder, "Our creator was a good man before... whatever it was that changed him happened, but either way, I wasn't expecting that nightmare to come back to us either."

"Nor was I!" exclaimed Gibson.

"That's different, team," Chiro responded, "the Alchemist used to be nice to you back in the day while Gyrus Krinkle was a creep from the get-go! In fact, if Krinkle's old habit of stalking is the reason the Skeleton King had all my five-year-old stuff aboard the Citadel of Bone, it just wouldn't surprise me anymore."

There was an akward silance within the Super Robot via what Chiro just said. Nobody, not even Gibson (who was their when Chiro made that disturbing discovery) dared to say a word about it for a long time.

"Get the Engines running and dial Jinmay for a private roundezvous," Chiro said at last, "We're going back home, but only for a quick visit."

The Hyperforce wasted no time returning to Planet Shuggazoom and its sole surviving city, but they all knew the hard part was just around the corner.

"What is it, Chiro?" Jinmay asked when she arrived, "I got your message to meet you and the team in the Peach Orchard in the outskirts of the city, but I just don't understand what's going on here."

"Jinmay," said Chiro, taking a deeo breath, "I think we've found a way to restore your memories, but you might not like everything you'd recall if we use it."

Each member of the team explained how they had seen her in the flashbacks sent by the enchanted journal pages, and how much of it they wished wasn't true. They told her about how they found the code-sheet with her name on it, and how they couldn't use it on her against her will. Jinmay thought it over for a really long time, and then gave an agreeing nod.

"I don't care how much of it hurts me," she said, "if it's the only way to help you guys, then I think it's best that I go through with it, no matter what!"

So, in a matter of minutes, Jinmay was hooked up to the Super Robot's central computer, and the memory code "09.18.04" was triggered. At that moment, Jinmay's eyes lit-up with a golden light, as every memory of who she was before the Skeleton King found her reloaded themseves in a matter of seconds. All the while, Chiro noticed that the trinket around his neck, the very heart of his robotic girlfriend, was glowing, and as he exposed it the team to get an explaination, a few enchanted journal pages matterialized over it. Jinmay, still in her semi-virtual state, read what was written on each page as the flashback was revealed:

_Dear Diary,_

_Last night, Ace visited me when the moon was in the center of the night sky. He was lucky it wasn't a full moon... I always lose control of my shape-shifting powers that time of month (I'm not so sure, but the Alchemist said it's normal for changelings my age especially females). Anyhow, Ace told me that Jinmay took off for planet Earth earlier that night, and he expected her to come back by now, but she had not! Seeing this as a grand opportunity to prove to him that the planet she is looking for does indeed exist, and see what my new artifact, the "Jewel of Hope", could really do, I enchanted you (my diary) and his own journal._

_To really push the Jewel of Hope to it's limits, I sent half the pages of both books straight to planet Earth, and intend to hide the rest of them as required if the Prophesy does come though this entry in particular shall be hidden within Jinmay (in a way the Dark Ones and their vessels could never reach it), the others shall be blank until my children find them, so that no matter what order they are found, the pages will be rewritten as though the first time. I just hope that, weither either of us write finish the story ourselves or not, Ace and I would be given a happy ending, and a new beginning, in the favor of my monkey team, the Hyperforce._

_ Hen-shi "Zoey Sulphur" Kunshuizan_

_P.S. The prophecy I was talking about goes something like this:_

_In due time, the forests that covered our world shall take root again, not on the soil beneath the sun and sky, but within the walls of Pandora's box. Two eggs, each left here by the Spirits, await that day more eagerly: _

_One is a small yet powerful egg, placed by the Creator of Creation itself when history was first written, waits until the tallest tree in Pandora ages to its second millenium. Upon that day it shall hatch as a gaurdian who is neither human nor animal, yet both as well, in the arms of one who was labled an outcast. The other egg, large and rotten, belonged to the Dark Ones, and festered in a Pit of Doom since the dawn of time, and cannot hatch until it's counterpart has been distroyed, and even then, it must wait._

_Worry not, for hope is forseen: a statue tall as a mountain shall be built by the hands of only three people, and given the abillity to move, though it cannot use that traint without help until the time is right. Who better to guide it until that point and beyond, then those whom the gaurdian shall chose for herself from her animal kin? The Ambassadors of Wukong, the six sacred offspring of the Power Primate Entity, shall be orphaned unriped at birth but developed under a sorceror's care, who shall change them so their lives shall not end before they begin._

_The gaurdian shall be like a mother in more ways then she'd expect, for she who shall bring the Chosen One into the world shall first restore the Ambassadors from other worlds twice. _

_First when fate calls them to meet their second-fathers as the ritual that spared their undeveloped lifeforce. When the Golden Age begins to fade away from the Dark Ones slipping through a crack in the window ment to spy on evil in a plan to distroy evil forever, an ally will become the vessel of the enemy. To that end, the Ambassadors shall be granted their powers when they come of age, but alas, at the cost of forgetting who gave them such gifts in the first place, leaving a gap that forces them to learn everything all over again in a year of seperation. After that year passes, their serrogate mother shall gather them a second time, using statue as it divides for the first time, and tell them of the enemy they're born to face whom they shall not recognize, then leave them to their many battle before they have a chance to recognize her._

_When one of the Six Ambassadors becomes a traitor, she who once raised them will pay an unnerving price to save the Stronghold of Hope, as well as the remaining five as they are placed in a dreamless slumber, before bringing the Chosen One into the world. Upon the thirtenth year and sixth month of his arrival, when he is needed most, he shall find and awaken the five remaining Ambassadors and take the traitor's place._

_There will be many battles, but not all of them will be obvious. Beware the false victories, as they are merely the enemy leader's way of amusing himself and learning your weaknesses so he cound distroy you in a way that brings agony. Beware more-so the evils within your own hearts, as none could resist temptation of any sort alone, especially the sort that may turn you against each other more then once. Usually, it would surface unaided, as though mere petty arguements, but every so often, the enemy is bound to attach his influance on your darker side using against you while you are either unwitting or unwilling._

_Bond, not just as a team, but as a family as well, for it is only then will you all be at your strongest. Worry not of the past when you recall all of it, but use what mistakes you and others made in it as a tool to keep history from repeating itself, for while evil will always exist, the places it has spread to shall be thinner in due time. Two rebirths shall take place, but while he who opposes us will be most powerful when the moon blots out the sun, those who stand for what is right shall have strength in numbers, which insures a promise of true victory._

_I don't think the Alchemist read all of it, because several paragraphs in his copy (mostly the ones with the parts of the prophesy that I wish didn't have to come true) are smudged out! I'm still debating over weither or not I should tell him, but I don't think it's a good idea to end a story before it has a chance to begin, so I'll just leave it to fate. All the same, though their is no mentioning of them, I thought of two objects that might double-bind that "promise" mentioned at the end: _

_The Jewel of Hope that I found yesterday, and the Rod of Resolve that Sun Wukong himself had used (I know it's crazy to think that thing ever existed, but I believe there's a chance it still does, and is hidden somewhere in the universe)._

_I just wish I hadn't sent the Alchemist's Intergalactic star-charts to Earth along with some of my diary pages, because I might need to check on when the next natural solar eclipse is as a further aid for when things take a turn for the worst. Oh well! What neither of us know won't hurt us, right?!_

As soon as that question was asked, Jinmay came back to her senses and fell into Chiro's arms. "Chiro," she murmured, "I remember now. I remember how my creator used me as a prop to make some girl jealous, some boy that looked like you with glasses, all of it!"

"We know," said Chiro, "believe it or not, that girl and boy were my parents, and my mom just gave us a message as to why the Skeleton King put a lull in the war. Gibson, when is the next solar eclipse?"

"From now," Gibson calculated, "365 days, Intergalactic time. What's more, it seems to be the start of the universal equinox, so all several planets in several solar systems will aline. That'll make it easier for the hyper-boost warp-tunnels to get us from here to planet Earth in about four hours. In addition to that, if I read that chapter in the Grimwar of Nacrotis correctly, the equinox is also the worst time of the millenium for making golem-like beings so the Skeleton King might be having trouble with most of his formless minions."

With that much, the team silently agreed this might be their only chance, and dispite her desire to visit Earth being restored with her memories, she knew she had to stay behind just incase ol-bonehead figures out a way around the Universal Equinox and sends more trouble.

"I'll bet Earth is that planet were we distroyed that worm!" Otto said with a smile, "Better work on the Super Robot's long-distance communication recepors, that way we can send plenty of vacation photos so that you won't feel left out."

"Yeah," Sparx said, "If you could even call it a 'vacation'! Nobody could really rest until this whole mess is officially over!"

"I don't know,Sparx," said Nova, "maybe Otto is on to something. After all, that planet is one of those rare multi-cultural ones, and we might need to go undercover as tourists to find anything down their."

"That,"added Antauri, "or as part of the newest media gimmick, not that we need any more of those rediculous advertisements."

"Well," said Gibson, clearing his throat, "as long as I don't have to be pushed around in a baby stroller again, like you've made me do during that elevator-monster insident, that'll be all peaches and gravy with me."

"What is he talking about?" Jinmay whispered to Chiro.

"Believe me," he answered, "you don't want to know."

**To those who want to know, Zoey and Ace don't have their first kiss until next chapter's flashback (Sorry) but at least the monkey's are figuring out the Skeleton King's plan. In addition to that, one of my new naighbors shared his access codes with me and I got wi-fi again, score!**

**Anyhow, the Hyperforce has one Earth year to get the second half of both enchanted journals (Universal Equinox or not, that's not ment to last) so they might be able to squeeze in a little time for R&R (rest and relaxation) while I give the fan-fic contest thing another chance while you guys do some R&R (reading and reviewing). Add a vacation spot, purhaps your dream vacation, to your post, and I'll not only make sure the Super Robot lands there after any possible research, I'll even give credit to the first one to post an idea... provided there's a real membership address. Good luck!**


End file.
